Missingno
by Kovva
Summary: An Alex Rider and Danny Phantom adventure. Alex and Danny finally realize their enemy this time around is one and the same. Can they work together to save the world? Canon pairings.
1. Welcome to Amity

_stupid keyboard shortcuts, i lost the summary i was writing for you on this chapter so i'll have to start over:_

_Dramatic summary huh? well here's a short intro because i'm bad at summaries._

_this is a crossover...Alex Rider meets Danny Phantom. I hope you've read Anthony Horowitz's series about Alex. He's a teenage spy. basically Alex comes over to Amity Park on his newest mission...invovling game glitches and worldwide computer virus etc etc...but being sent to amity park means MI6 knows something. Ghosts are in on the plot and now the two have to work together to save the world. sounds good? i hope it is...enjoy!_

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"America. Why there, and why – Michigan?"

Mr. Blunt surveyed his youngest and most successful spy over the tops of his spectacles. Fair-haired, brown-eyed, and only fourteen, Alex Rider was certainly not typical or disposable. But for this mission it was of the utmost importance that he go.

"That's only for MI6 to know."

"Why can't I know?" he demanded.

Beneath the blank, grey appearance, Mr. Blunt chuckled invisibly, but still without humor. "You're not an agent of MI6. We just use you. And we're going to lend you out to the CIA. But we'll still call the shots. If you really want to know, just agree."

Alex's eyes flashed. Blunt knew he would always be faithful to his homeland, England, which also ensured obedience to MI6. It was a ruthless, mysterious organization that even Parliament didn't quite know why existed, but Blunt, as the head of MI6, never hesitated to use force or blackmail. It had saved the world many times over.

"I'm not your agent," he muttered.

"Children all over the world could be in danger. You are our only hope."

Alex's head subtly snapped up to attention. Blunt knew he had him. Couldn't live with himself if he didn't try. Checkmate.

Alex looked angry and forced, but Blunt knew it wasn't completely his words; Alex forced himself. "You can always back out. We respect your decisions – you want to be a 'normal kid', a schoolboy, if you will."

His head was down again and a strange growl issued from his throat.

"I can't hear you," Blunt said. He waited.

"I'll...do it."

- -

Blunt knew he wouldn't be happy to receive his instructions; he never was. Seven or eight missions he had been on, and he had survived every single one without nearly a scratch. But this briefing had not gone well, Blunt noted, as he watched and listened from behind a one-way-mirror; a habit of his.

"You're telling me some kids' gameboys are going to blow up?"

"Alex, listen, it's more than that—"

"That is so pointless. Are you in league with Nintendo?"

"Alex! That's the least of our worries – the games blowing up, that is. That is, their games getting corrupted."

Mrs. Jones, Blunt's partner "in crime", was getting flustered. She was the official head of MI6, but Blunt still didn't like her slowly developing soft spot for Alex. She'd had kids, once. Once, sending Alex into mortal danger had been okay. For Blunt, it was still okay. Now, she was thinking twice.

She continued explaining, while Alex sat stubbornly before her. "This isn't an ordinary computer virus. It doesn't spread because stupid people forward it to each other. It spreads through radio waves, internet connections, connections of any other kind, satellite – any form of communication that needs electricity you can think of. It can spread simply by close proximity to another piece of technology, like the way airplanes tell you to turn off your Walkmans. Destroying all the satellites orbiting the earth would only delay the inevitable. This is worse than the Black Plague – we know how to prevent it, but there's no way we can. The instant it is released, within hours all the data in the world would be corrupted beyond repair. The consequences for hospitals, businesses, and governments would be unthinkable. Here's where the children come in – hospital systems that support sick children and people would be useless machinery if infected. "

"The solution?" Alex asked, his face blank.

"There may be a way. We know the nature of the virus because someone who claims to be his reincarnation has sent warning and a description of it. We have to take him seriously. Genuine or not, you have to find him, disable the countdown, and stop him from doing any more."

"Why don't you just send a killer? You're good at that," Alex said.

Mrs. Jones paused. "We need to learn his code so it can't be used again."

"So you can use it on someone else," Alex said darkly. "I love intelligence wars."

"No, Alex," Mrs. Jones sighed, unwrapping a peppermint. "Back to the Gameboys. Ross Kent's first job was a programmer at Nintendo. He was developing the Pokemon Red and Blue versions at the time. He was a programming prodigy, but his talent was too great for his job, so with his free time he masterminded a major glitch in the games that corrupted data and spread when players tried to trade Pokemon."

"All the games? I thought it was only Red and Blue—"

Mr. Blunt inclined his head nearly imperceptibly. He had made the right choice; Alex did know quite a bit about games and perhaps even programming.

"Yes, the famous "Missingno" glitches and its cousins were found early," she said, referring to her notes and frowning, "but others less blatant lurk in the other, newer games and are yet to be found. We believe Missingno and its cousins have something to do with the virus. However slight, it has to be found and understood."

Alex discovered he was leaning forward and promptly sat back against the chair. "I suppose your informer told you that too. This is crazy."

"True. Perhaps the man is crazy. But he must be stopped. You will be staying in Michigan, in the United States, with a family that can help."

"What family?"

"You will find out very soon. Alex, the virus will be released in a month. Remember everything I've told you. Find the mastermind behind it and you'll have found the virus."

Alex's face was a mixture of bafflement and the hardness that came with every new mission. Mrs. Jones looked guilty, though, and maybe a little sad.

Alex rose to leave, but Mrs. Jones stopped him to remind him of the travel plans. "Alex, your flight will leave at seven in the morning two days from now. Someone from the family will be there to meet you in Grand Rapids."

Mr. Blunt turned away from the mirror. Business as usual. He felt no emotion at the thought of his teenage spy leaving for another possibly dangerous mission. He forgot about Alex and returned to his office.

Alex shrugged at her. Mrs. Jones looked like she wanted to say more, but kept quiet until his hand was on the door handle. "Alex – think of it as a vacation. This part of the US will be different, and the Fentons are nice people. Okay?"

"Don't baby me. You keep telling me it'll be like a vacation, but it never is."

Alex closed the door behind him, let himself out through the familiar passages of the pseudo-bank building, and took the train home, already curious about the strange programmer and the glitchy games. At least this one didn't sound life-threatening. What could a geek do to him? He certainly wouldn't have gun-toting henchmen. Even so, he made a mental note to revisit his old copy of Pokemon Red and catch Missingno, just because.

He discovered he had forgotten his keys. He rang the doorbell and a young woman opened the door carefully, then swung it wide when she saw him. "Alex!" she cried, and pulled him into her arms.

"Hey, Jack," he said into her, and she released him just before the point of clinginess.

"Every time I go out, I swear I worry you've been hit by a bullet or run over by a car!" she fretted, smoothing his hair. "Anyway, dinner's ready. Where'd you go out to this time?"

He'd been on the way to the bathroom to wash his hands and he barely stopped in his tracks. Jack would not be happy to hear he'd been to MI6 headquarters again. "Um, I'll tell you after dinner." He wanted to keep Jack cheerful and the mood light as long as possible.

Jack bought it, but during the meal she would furtively glance at his face, looking for clues to where he'd been. She'd been his housekeeper for a long time, and he was like a son to her. Worry was a full-time job. Once he'd put his dishes in the sink, she began questioning him. "So what were you going to tell me after dinner?"

Alex's heart plummeted. "I'm...going to Michigan."

"What? Why? Is this about MI6?"

He sighed and was silent for a moment. "Yes." Jack started; he could see it on her face: she was ready to unleash a barrage of protest. "Listen, before you say no, this time it shouldn't be dangerous. I mean, what could a computer virus do to me?"

Jack visibly calmed down, and by the time he was done telling her about the virus, she was nodding and making plans to come with him but visit her relatives in Illinois again, "so I can be there in a jiffy if anything happens."

Alex fell asleep with his heart a little more at peace, deciding to pack in the morning, play tennis at the local club in the afternoon, and go to sleep early for his seven o'clock plane. He felt better about saying yes to MI6 now. Jack was OK with it, he would get to go, and it sounded like his least life-threatening mission he'd been on yet. He hoped.

- -

It was another snowy December in Amity Park, Michigan. A blizzard warning was in effect, and at three in the afternoon it was already dark. At three-thirty the local high school, Casper High, let out, looking for all the world like a night school. Some kids went to the buses, some kids got into their cars, and some started to walk home. No one wanted to be outside in the cold, grey darkness. Only three stayed behind. Their names were Danny, Samantha, and Tucker.

"Where's Jazz? Shouldn't she be here to meet the exchange student?" Tucker asked, scanning the emptying parking lot. He frowned at his dark hands, which were turning pale from the cold, and pulled on some mittens.

Danny shrugged, his hands in his warm coat pockets. "My dear sister is probably inside warming up all by herself." He had on jeans, sneakers, and a windbreaker over his usual white t-shirt. Normal people would be cold. He rarely was.

Sam shivered suddenly. "Nice of her not to invite us." Skinny and pale, she dressed like a Goth and had the attitude of a punk.

Tucker smirked. "Sam's cold. Danny, go warm her up."

Sam narrowed her eyes at her friend. "No thanks, Tuck, my hot, blushing face is quite warm enough, really." In fact, there wasn't much pink in her cheeks at all. Sam had become immune to Tucker's taunts after going to most of elementary school with both him and Danny.

"I don't mind," he smiled, pulling her into a hug.

Sam made a sharp sound. "Danny, your hands are freezing!"

Immediately, he withdrew his hands. "Uh, sorry..."

"Nah, it's okay. Just give me your jacket," she demanded, but she was grinning.

He did, and she put it on while he stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and tried to warm up his hands, even though he didn't feel like they were cold. Sometimes, this was impossible for him. Being half-ghost and all.

"I think I hear Jazz," Tucker said. Quickening footsteps sounded behind them and Jazz appeared, throwing her arms over Danny and Tucker's shoulders, causing them to stumble forward. She smiled widely. "Hi! Mom called and said they're on the way."

"I wonder what he thinks about our Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle," Danny muttered, first hearing then seeing it round the corner way too fast. It pulled up with a screech, and a Mrs. Fenton poked her head out the window. "Get in, kids! Blizzard's coming!"

Danny let the others go first while he protested. "What's the hurry? The blizzard won't happen till tonight!"

His mom motioned him in and he obeyed. "Better safe than sorry! Back to Fentonworks! ...I mean home!" she announced, and put the vehicle in gear.

Danny hurried to sit down in his usual seat, but found an unfamiliar boy there – the exchange student, he guessed. He had on navy blue jeans, trainers, and a black jacket over a tan shirt. With one look, he knew the ride from the airport must have been rough – the boy was looking more apprehensive by the second. He buckled himself in next to him.

"You do this often?" the boy asked with a British accent. His eyes were brown and serious. Danny had never seen a kid this young with the eyes of a person who had seen too much.

Danny knew the feeling, though; he had the same eyes in blue. "Yeah, I'm used to it. She's my mom, after all. You must be Alex Rider...?"

"Yeah," he said. "And you're Danny?"

Danny nodded with a smile, then had to hold on to his seat as Mrs. Fenton braked forcefully.

Alex had never seen a car like this. It was one of those crazy American ideas, he supposed. It was huge; green and silver and big enough to live in. When Mrs. Fenton had come to meet him at the airport, he thought he was looking at a short, curvy bug-eyed alien. Then all of a sudden she'd pulled off her hood and an energetic, delicate-featured woman had led him to this automotive freak of nature. He had not enjoyed the ride to the school. It was like riding a horse again, except his horse was rearing and bucking every time they stopped at a red light or turned a corner.

"If you think this is bad," Danny said suddenly, "wait till you ride when my dad's driving."

Danny saw Alex's face and immediately added, "My mom only drives like this when she's excited. Don't worry..."

Alex sighed and was about to let his head fall back onto the headrest, but the car's acceleration did it for him. He shut his eyes. "Are we there yet?"

With a final screech and hard braking, the Fenton RV stopped at the curb of Fentonworks. The kids filed out while Mrs. Fenton hunted for her keys in a side pocket attached to her blue jumpsuit.

Danny was fidgeting. He'd already taken a liking to Alex, because his eyes had that familiar look in them, and he didn't want his stay to be distressful, to say the least. With these parents, it would be tricky. "Look...when she opens the door, the thing in orange is my dad..."

Tucker snickered. "Yeah, don't let him get you, he'll crush you."

"I've been through worse," Alex said, then berated himself for saying something so cryptic. It had been a while since he'd been with people his age.

Sam looked at him strangely. Danny caught her eye and shrugged at her just as the door opened with a BAM and the "thing in orange" exploded out of the door.

By instinct, Alex almost delivered a hard punch to the stomach, but remembered just in time that a) he must not punch his temporary parents and b) it wouldn't make a difference in that huge belly anyway and c) he had thought too much and it was too late to jump out of the way and d) if he jumped out of the way the thing in orange would smash into the vehicle behind him. So he let himself be squeezed in a bear hug.

"Pleased to meet you, new-son-that-I'll-only-have-for-a-month!" Jack bellowed. "What's your name?"

"Alex Rider," he managed.

"Well, Alex, we hope you'll enjoy your stay here!"

"Thanks."

There was a silence. "Jack, dear, let's go in, hmm?" Mrs. Fenton prodded, and he let himself be herded into the sitting room.

By all estimates, the Fentons were gearing up for an hour-long question and answer session about himself, which Alex would prefer to avoid.

Danny caught the vibe, and so did the others. Jazz spoke first. "Dad, Mom, um, we're going to show Alex his room and stuff. Okay? We're going, see you at dinner!"

Jazz, Tucker, Sam, Danny, and Alex raced up the stairs with his luggage and were soon out of sight, leaving the parents baffled and alone.

The house was quiet, but for the whine of the refrigerator and muffled talk from Danny's room.

"He doesn't want to talk to us?" Maddie said, sounding forlorn.

"Oh...well, more time for needlepoint!" exclaimed Jack, pulling out a potholder half-decorated with neon green ghosts from under a sofa cushion. Maddie brought her hand to her forehead with a resounding smack.

- -

The five of them were in Danny's room, in a circle on the floor. Alex's luggage lay in a corner, forgotten. Alex had immediately noticed Danny's eyes. They were just like his, but blue, and it had been a while since he'd seen someone with the same serious, weary look. But he was also curious about the other kids. Were they siblings? Close friends? MI6 hadn't told him much. It was time to learn.

"So, you're British?" Jazz asked. She'd noticed his accent. She'd also noticed his attractive features and well-built frame.

"I'd say English," he said, smiling slightly. "But yes. I hail from Great Britain."

"How old are you?" asked Tucker.

"Fourteen – you?"

"Fourteen," said the Danny, Sam, and Tucker together, while Jazz announced a little belatedly, "Sixteen!"

She looked sheepish. "I'm Danny's big sister. These are his friends Sam and Tucker. We forgot to introduce ourselves, guys!"

"I'm Sam," she said. "Just Sam."

"I'm Tucker," said he, "and I'm a proud geek!"

Danny only smiled lopsidedly and said, "You know me. And Jazz."

He looked at them in turn, matching name to face, letting it sink into him that the majority of his time would be spent here with these people. Sam and Tucker seemed to practically go everywhere with him. He'd never seen friends so close. He wondered what the reason was.

"You'll be sleeping in this extra bed across from me, in my room," Danny offered, motioning to a new bed next to him. Alex didn't know it, but it had been all been provided and paid for by MI6. The Fentons had just dutifully followed mailed orders and redeemed coupons.

"Exciting," said Alex. "So, tell me, why do your parents wear those weird uniforms everywhere?"

There was a pregnant moment of silence, and then Danny and Jazz both started talking at once. "They're crazy, don't worry about them," said Jazz, while Danny said, "My dad has an allergy to normal clothing—"

Alex looked baffled, and Danny looked uncomfortable. "Uh, both those explanations are bad. Um, what I mean is...why don't you ask them?"

Alex chuckled. "No thanks. I can tell that'll get me nowhere."

Sam smirked. "Just accept Danny's parents for who they are...strange."

"What's in the basement?" Alex said suddenly. Ever observant, Alex had seen the steel-plated doorway with metallic steps leading downward. The way had been dimly lit with a green glow and he was highly curious as to what was down there.

They all looked at him blankly while Jazz whispered audibly into Danny's ear: "Can we for once keep their ghost weirdness away from the guests?"

There was a silence as Jazz realized she had been overheard. Sam rolled her eyes.

"So I take it your parents are interested in...ghosts? Did I hear right?" Alex said finally.

"No, no, no, we're not strange at all! We're a perfectly normal family!" Jazz exclaimed. Her right eyelid twitched intermittently.

Sam sighed loudly. She opened her mouth to spill the family secrets, but Jazz gave her such a fierce glare she stayed quiet. Alex received no response and the room was stony quiet once again.

Suddenly, Danny was up on his feet. "Augh! Um, why don't I get us some snacks. Or something. Be right back."

His ghost sense had gone off, and he was sure Alex had seen the blue vapor. This was not a good start. He closed the door behind him and sprinted to Jazz's room. "Going ghost," he muttered, and a bright light flashed from his waist. Within seconds he was a ghost. Danny Phantom flew through the wall and into the air, following his ghostly adversary.

Tucker, Sam, and Jazz had seen the mist too and now scrambled for conversation.

"So..." Tucker broke the silence. "Um...what games do you like?"

"I don't have time to play games," Alex shrugged. Tucker's jaw dropped. "What? No way!"

"Yes way," Alex said. Then he remembered the Pokemon Red and the ancient Gameboy Color in his luggage. "Wait. I did bring one."

He sprang up gracefully and moved over to his luggage. Unlocking it, he opened the cover and found the Gameboy. "I have this."

"Ha!" Tucker laughed shortly. "That? That was so, like, ten years ago!"

His words triggered a recent memory. The programmer. The Pokemon games. Ten years ago. "Yeah, I know. But I want to show you something weird..."

Alex had stayed up till near midnight the day before his flight, continuing from where he'd left off about four years ago and progressing enough in it so he would be able to trigger the glitch. It had taken a while, even though he won every battle. But it would be worth it, and crucial to his mission. Which he wasn't planning on telling any of these kids about. Maybe Danny. But not anytime soon.

Tucker crowded closer, and Sam did too. Only Jazz stayed where she sat on Danny's bed, turning her nose up at it. She didn't believe in video games.

"What is it?" Tucker said. "Dude, you started with Charmander? I did too!"

"Doesn't everyone?" Alex smiled slightly. "Watch this..."

He performed the steps need to trigger the glitch, but as soon as he walked up to the small man that taught you how to catch a Pokemon, Tucker scoffed. "Ha! The Missingno glitch? I know every trick in the book."

"Really," Alex said disbelievingly. Maybe MI6 should have sent him to stay with Tucker's family. Danny's family may be eccentric, but they didn't seem like the undercover-CIA type. Or maybe that was the point.

"Yeah," Tucker said. His eyes lit up, eager to share the knowledge. "There's so many wacko things you can do to the Pokemon Red/Blue games...have you heard of Glitch City? The other glitch Pokemon? It's crazy, man..."

"Other glitch Pokemon," Alex repeated.

Tucker shrugged. "Yeah. See, the programmers used an array of 256, with numbers from 0 to 255...there are only 151 Pokemon, so the other slots must all be glitch Pokemon or something...Missingno is number zero. You can even sort of tell from its name – Missing No., where No. means 'number'."

Tucker continued to lecture like a seasoned professor with a diploma in tech as Alex listened intently, soaking it in, but he still couldn't see how these glitches would help make a worldwide pandemonium. The others listened too: with their eyes half-glazed over and their attention elsewhere.

Tucker was content to have found a match for his vast and geeky knowledge. Even in the short time they'd spent together, Tucker could already tell Alex was different. Other fourteen-year old boys would have been the immature type, looking for fun and entertainment, or cracking jokes that weren't funny, or...he just hadn't met anyone quite like Alex before. He was always calm and serious, and he was funny, truly funny, in a subtle, droll way. Were all British kids like this?

Alex frowned at the small screen. He'd caught Missingno, but it didn't seem to be anything special. Other than the fact that it had a Nidoran's cry, messed up people's games, and looked like the Gameboy equivalent of a snowy TV screen. Tucker had just described all he knew about the glitch in the Pokemon Red/Blue versions, but Alex wanted more.

"What about Gold/Silver? Are there Missingno in there too?"

Tucker's face was like one who had forgotten to pick up the holy grail on his quest. "You know, I never tried...Red/Blue was just too much fun to hack. I doubt it, though, you might think the programmers would have gotten rid of it..."

Sam stirred in the corner. Her back was against the side of one of the boys' beds and it was very comfortable sitting there, listening to what she already knew. She'd once proved she knew more than Tucker about secret cheats in games. She'd do it again. Watching him squirm was one of the highlights of being friends with him.

"There are glitches in Gold/Silver and even Ruby/Sapphire. Come on, no one's perfect, if you look hard enough and hack enough there's gotta be one somewhere." She shrugged, playing it cool. "Gold/Silver contains a Missingno, but it's not dangerous."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "That's not what my sources told me."

"Uh, sources?" she raised an eyebrow too, holding his gaze.

Realizing he'd said too much, he hazarded, "Uh, internet?"

The faces that had turned to him curiously now looked away, apparently satisfied, but Sam still gazed at him as if she didn't believe him. That lie fooled a lot of people a lot of the time. Just not Sam. She was all around different, and it wasn't just her clothing style; she was one smart girl. Danny and her would make a great team...

Tucker finished sulking at being outmoded by Sam (a girl!) at technology, his usual forte, and said, "I have all the other ones if you want to play with them."

Alex looked up. "Every single version? Red blue yellow gold silver crystal ruby sapphire...?"

"Yes," Tucker finally smiled widely. "All of them. I used to be obsessed."

"You still are, Tucker. Don't you have both Diamond and Pearl now?" Sam cut in.

"Yeah..." Tucker said, looking down.

"Hey," said Alex, "That's good! Because I've just made it my goal to find Missingno in all the games in two weeks."

Even Jazz looked at him, disbelief all over her face.

Tucker shrugged. "All right, whatever you want, man. I'll bring them over tomorrow."

Alex stopped pressing buttons on his Gameboy and let the tinny music play on. He'd caught Missingno without glitching up his game. Was this what he was supposed to do with this? He hardly knew anything about the virus. Mrs. Jones had showed him a transcript of the warning they had received at the start of the briefing, but it had been sparse and not very informative into the nature of the virus itself. How could anything spread by "close proximity" anyway?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Alex muttered, saving his game and turning the game off. He tossed it on his new bed. He leaned against it and let his shoulders slump.

"You okay?" Jazz asked. At the sound of her voice he looked up. She looked a little like Jack. He wondered if Jack really was visiting her relatives and not hiding out in a local motel. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just...nothing."

"What? You can tell me. I—oh, look, we just met, but really, I'm studying to be a psychologist!" Jazz stuttered, blushing.

Danny saved the day yet again by opening the door, interrupting her doomed monologue – but suspiciously empty-handed. "Hi guys! Hi Alex!" he said brightly. "So what were you talking about?"

"Umm...nothing, but Danny, you, uh, forgot the snacks."

"Oh! So I did! Sorry, be right back!" He flashed them a grin, gave them a thumbs up, and slammed the door harder than needed.

Sam didn't look very happy at the moment. Danny had very ineptly tried to disguise his long absence but failed terribly – again. By the looks of Alex, he seemed very observant and had seen the discrepancy too. Not like Danny's parents and all the kids at school. It had been the second time today something weird about Danny had shown up on Alex's face. She gritted her teeth and looked toward the door, wishing he could be less klutzy sometimes. Especially with a stranger in their midst. Alex's emotions were so hard to read, she wasn't sure he had any. And that could be dangerous if he turned out to be.

Danny came back, again empty-handed. "Mom says it's too close to dinner – what did I miss?"

Everyone looked at Alex for the answer. He was a natural leader, and they knew it. "Nothing much. I caught Missingno on my Pokemon Red," he said, and chuckled.

"Yeah? Cool...cool." He sounded distracted. "Hey, let's get out of here and let him unpack, okay?"

They filed out of the room and Tucker closed the door behind him.

Alex took a deep breath. Finally, a time alone with his own thoughts. But back home he'd had enough of that anyway. Not many friends where he and Jack and lived, and Tom, Jerry, and Sabina had faded away like distant memories. That was exactly what they were, now. But in his heart, there was nothing, as if it were in truth a cold, heavy stone.

At the foot of his bed was a chest, apparently for his clothing, and on it lay a jade-green towel. Automatically, he unpacked, placing his clothing in the chest and leaving everything else in the suitcase. His backpack he lay beside his bedside table. Finally, he fell onto the covers of his bed. Feeling something hard beneath his leg, he pulled out his Gameboy and set it on the table.

Finally. He lay spread-eagled on the bed, just thinking, pondering the next month and what it had in store for him. Also, the people he would be sharing it with, and the two eccentric parents, strange substitutes for the parents he'd never known. And Danny, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker...what of them? He shook his head slightly, not an easy thing to do lying down. And what about school tomorrow?

He relaxed a little at that thought. MI6 would have everything arranged...again. It was so predictable, he took it for granted, in a strange way, even though he hated how they did everything ahead of time, correctly anticipating his every decision. His messenger bag he'd taken for his carryon would be his new school bag, and – he supposed the books would have to be provided by his new mom and dad, who were downstairs waiting for him so they could lay down the rules of the house and get him used to this place.

He got up reluctantly and slowly, and stretched. It was time to meet the Fentons. In truth he was more excited now. As he turned the corner to the kitchen area where he could hear the father's voice, he saw the basement steps again and was sorely tempted to explore.

It was like he was a spy again, on a real mission, sneaking around criminals and looking for armed guards. But this was a much more forgiving place. A family couldn't have dangers like that. He stepped quietly down the stairs, but stopped and kept still, not believing his eyes. Across the cool, dark room was a huge octagonal shape in the wall, and in it was something like a green mirror, but its surface swirled and glowed. It was utterly silent in the room but for a few words from Danny as he pushed a silver cylinder into a slot in the wall and pushed a button. A second later, the green mirror shivered violently. A blob with some form of a man circled for another few seconds but was sucked into the center like a flushing toilet. Danny laughed, then he removed the silver cylinder and capped it. It looked like a thermos. Sam and Tucker laughed too, but they stopped abruptly when they turned and saw Alex in the doorway. He had been too mesmerized to hide.

They tried to put on brave faces, but Alex had seen their initial reaction. Fear. Discovery. A secret. Had MI6 set him up for this, but using fellow teenagers?!

"Oh hey Alex..." Sam said, but trailed off, for lack of something to say. Danny pushed the same button and doors like blunt jaws slid over the green, swirling mirror. The soft green glow disappeared. The room was dark but for a few lava lamps and green liquids scattered on counters and benches.

The three glanced at each other, and immediately they had resolved the situation, quick as telepaths. Danny stepped forward. "Alex," he said as he swept a hand around the steel-plated room, introducing Alex to the cupboards and tables filled with strange objects and beakers, "Welcome to the best collection of ghost-hunting gadgets in the world."

_

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_i hope any italics were not omitted. i messed up editing this._

_thanks for reading! comments? incredulous questions? review!_


	2. It's been a pleasure

welcome to the second chapter of Missingno. this chapter is 10 pages; my first chapter was 14...they'll stay about 8-10 pages from now on, I hope.

last time on Missingno:

_The three glanced at each other, and immediately they had resolved the situation, quick as telepaths. Danny stepped forward. "Alex," he said as he swept a hand around the steel-plated room, introducing Alex to the cupboards and tables filled with strange objects and beakers, "Welcome to the best collection of ghost-hunting gadgets in the world."_

**------------------------------------------------------end of chapter 1, begin chapter 2-------**

"Pardon?" Alex said, his eyes narrowing.

Danny sighed with an air of finality. "My parents are ghost hunters. This is the stuff they use to hunt ghosts with..."

"So they think ghosts exist?"

Danny looked surprised. "Oh, ghosts exist all right..."

Alex kept his expression neutral as he tried to absorb these words coming from a perfectly rational teenager...or perhaps that was an oxymoron.

Sam couldn't help the grin creeping up her face. "Amity Park is full of them," she said helpfully. "We're pretty much the ghost capital of the world. Did you see the portal?" She motioned to the octagonal shape on the wall, where the green mirror had been. "That leads to the ghost zone, when it's open, that is."

"You're pulling my leg," Alex stated.

"Of course we are," laughed Tucker, trying to confuse him. He was succeeding, too.

"Dang!" Danny exclaimed suddenly. "We could have shown him the Box Ghost. Too bad we just released him."

"You know how he is. He'll be back in a few hours," Sam assured him.

Alex could hear the truth in their words, and at the same time a strange chill was crawling up his spine. He wondered if it was a ghost. He shuddered involuntarily. Was his enemy this time _ghosts_? Had MI6 sent him here on purpose, to the "ghost capital of the world", to the house of a couple who hunted ghosts? Ghosts? How could they exist? Alex didn't believe in ghosts.

"So..." Alex said slowly. "You hunt ghosts, too?"

Danny flinched. "In a way," he said evasively. He picked up the silver cylinder. "We use this special soup container and suck 'em up." A lopsided grin appeared on his face.

Alex's incredulous expression was too funny. The trio burst into giggles, leaving Alex feeling alienated and confused. Were they joking? Of course they were. Ghosts weren't real. Alex left them then, calling out simply that he would be getting the obligatory talk from Danny's parents. His last glimpse of them was of them looking sorry that they had teased him so.

Hands in his jeans pockets and with a slight slouch, he went into the kitchen where Maddie and Jack were. They both greeted him heartily. They were nice people, nearly normal but for their hugely contrasting sizes and their strange choice of clothing.

The first question Jack asked him was about ghosts. Of course. Hadn't he been listening when they'd told him about these people?

"So, er –" Jack started.

"_Alex_," whispered Maddie.

"Er, _Alex_, seen any ghosts lately?" Jack boomed. His grey eyes darted back and forth. His constant grin was contagious. Alex felt himself begin to smile at the child-like man. "Mr. Fenton, I don't believe in ghosts."

"What? No son of mine doesn't believe in ghosts!" Jack shouted. Alex's composure disappeared.

Alex had never met anyone like Jack before. Thankfully, he had a wife like Maddie to balance him out. "Jack...give him time to adjust. Danny always seems to attract ghosts, so he's bound to see one soon!"

"Er, he...attracts ghosts?"

"All the time, dear. About twice a month he'll get himself in trouble with those rampaging ghosts that infest our city! And then we'll have to get out the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle – oh, sorry, Alex, I meant the RV," she said with a small blush, "and hunt down the ghosts to save our son!"

As a non-believer, Alex was thoroughly non-plussed. "I'll believe it when I see it. I-If that's okay, Mrs. Fenton," he said, remembering his manners.

"You'll come over eventually," she smiled knowingly.

Sam's words ran through his head suddenly. _Amity Park is full of them...we're pretty much the ghost capital of the world..._

If ghosts were real, as they said (he felt the chills up his spine again and a sick feeling in his stomach), he wondered why this wasn't a ghost town already.

"Well, Alex, we'll have to educate you about ghosts straightaway!" enthused Jack, but Maddie was more down-to-earth. "Jack, not now. Alex needs his schoolbooks and a tour of the house. _I'll_ do it, you can work on your needlepoint and blather on about ghosts later. All right?"

Jack sulked like a toddler, but pulled out his needlepoint and began to sew. Alex followed Maddie dutifully, sneaking glances backwards and trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

--

"The downstairs is pretty much straightforward, Alex...kitchen, dining room, living room, and bathroom. Let's go upstairs. That's Jazz's room—you've met Jazz, right? And this is Danny's and your room, here's the shower, oh! That's my bedroom...and here's a storage room."

Alex raised his eyebrows as Maddie prepared to move on. "I mean, the guest bedroom--" Suddenly her eyes were wide. "Oh, no! I forgot I cleaned out this room just for you, and now I've put you with Danny!"

Alex grinned, nearly laughing out loud. Maddie's laugh was contagious and she was obviously a very caring and charming woman – mother, he remembered. "That's okay, Mrs. Fenton, I don't mind a bit." Maddie would be yet another foster parent, and his stay would be over all too soon. He couldn't help remembering the grisly death of his last "mother", Belinda Troy. But like he'd done a hundred times before, he pushed the old life down, trying to return to the present, trying to remember the role he was trying to play: an ordinary kid. Unfortunately he was anything but ordinary.

Maddie was describing the method in which he should take care of his laundry, but Alex wasn't quite with her anymore. He was wondering how many people would have to die on this mission. There had been so many deaths. He had seen so many go to their final destination. He hoped this one would be different. He hoped every mission would be different. But inevitably, someone was sacrificed so he must go on...

Alex snapped back to reality when Maddie called his name, as if from a long distance. "Alex? You brought a toothbrush, right? Good, you can go ahead and use that...we have toothpaste and a mug, so it's fine if you use that...you saw the towel by your bed, that's for you too. Here's a face towel too. Do you shave?"

Alex shrugged to her last question. He suddenly didn't feel like taking the tour. "No, I don't. Thanks, Mrs. Fenton," he said, looking down at the towel in his hand, "I'll ask Danny if I have questions. See you—"

And he escaped down the stairs.

Maddie watched him go sadly. Alex reminded her of Danny a lot, even from the few hours he'd been living in her house. At least Danny was making a friend. That was always good.

Suddenly she bolted for the staircase. "Alex—Alex! Do you want me to give you a tour of the lab? I mean, the basement?"

His voice came faintly back to her from two floors down. "No thanks, Mrs. Fenton...Danny and Sam and Tucker are showing me!"

"Okay!" she replied.

Danny and his friends always spent so much time down there. She couldn't understand why. Jack always said that they were learning about ghosts and to leave them alone...so she did. Maybe that's why they were always down there. Were they avoiding her?

That was a depressing thought.

--

"This is the thermos. It catches ghosts. You just open the cap and press the side of it here..." Tucker explained.

Alex's expression was one of utter confusion.

"What? Haven't you ever seen a ghost-eating thermos?" Tucker said, pretending to be amazed.

"Come on, Tucker. You've got to admit, my parents come up with really weird stuff." Danny said.

"It works, though!" Tucker said, brandishing the thermos at Alex, who backed away slightly. "It's genius!"

"That's...cool," Alex said lamely.

The joking atmosphere seemed to break. Sam thought fast. "Uh, hey guys, why don't we take a walk. Outside. We can take him to Nasty Burger."

"What?!" said Alex. "I hope that's false advertising..."

Tucker gasped. "It's definitely false. It's the best! You gotta try it! Come on! Nasty shakes on me!"

"I thought Mrs. Fenton was paranoid about the blizzard tonight?" Alex asked.

"We'll be back before she knows it! Come on!" said Tucker. They were on the main floor now, and the other Fentons were not visible. He dragged him through the door. Sam and Danny had no chance but to follow, giving each other knowing smiles, as if they were chasing after a rowdy child.

--

Alex had an enjoyable time at the Nasty Burger. His vanilla milkshake was a creamy, frothy concoction that wasn't half-bad, and Tucker's flirting with every girl that passed made for strange but effective entertainment. Alex's presence also generated moderate interest from the other school kids there when it became known he was an exchange student. He hurried home with the others under the dark sky, the smell of snow in his nose and the pleasant taste of vanilla lingering on his tongue and high hopes for an easy, painless adjustment to school tomorrow.

As it happened, it snowed during the night and most of the morning. Alex was rather jetlagged and woke up nearly mid-morning to see his window lined with snow and Danny's bed across from him unmade and empty. Alex poked an arm out of his warm cocoon of blankets like a snail venturing out of its shell and immediately withdrew it. It was chilly. Danny poked his head into the room.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?" he mumbled.

"Go ahead and stay in bed...school is canceled!"

"Awesome," Alex said. He started to get up.

"No, don't get up. We know you're jetlagged. I'll get you up for lunch, though."

Alex blinked. "Thanks, Danny."

He smiled. "Not a problem."

After Danny left, Alex pulled the blankets around him tightly again and tried to sleep, but couldn't. Danny found him at lunchtime, hard at work on his Pokemon Red, having just glitched up his game so terribly he had to restart. "You're serious, huh?" Danny commented after Alex explained what he'd done. "You should ask Tucker to help you. He can go through those games so fast, I'm not surprised he's finished the newest Pokemon versions already. Oh, and it's time for lunch."

"Sounds good. Thanks." Tucker wouldn't understand his quest for glitches, would he?

Alex followed him down.

The rest of the day he spent building snowthings and having a snowball fight with anyone, really. The four of them roamed the streets, armed with snow, pelting anyone who wanted to start a casual fight. It was a lot of fun. By dinner time he was feeling the need to sleep again. He ate quickly, showered quickly, and fell into bed, wondering if there would be school tomorrow.

Jazz got them both up early on pretense of needing time to complete paperwork and to correct last-minute problems at school, while she turned on the TV and tried to find out if there was school or not.

"Jazz...! You got us up before you checked if there was school or not?" Danny complained and stifled a yawn. His hair was even more a mess than it usually was.

"Um...sorry? Oh look, there _is _school!"

"Fun." Danny said sarcastically.

"You're always in a bad mood when you're not awake!" accused Jazz, then remembered Alex was there. "Oh, sorry, I forgot you were there."

"Clueless!" Danny sang.

Alex coughed and looked at the ceiling.

Eventually they arrived at school in Jazz's car, a full 45 minutes early. There wasn't anyone in the school office for another fifteen minutes, and any problems were ironed out in five. This meant the three of them were stranded for another twenty-five minutes, waiting for class to start.

"This is all your fault," mumbled Danny.

"She was trying to help..." Alex tried.

Jazz shot him a grateful look. Danny kept silent, his eyes half-closed, until a freak gust of cold wind blew in his face. "Agh! I'm awake, I'm awake..."

People started arriving then, casting curious looks at Alex. When people asked, he told them the official story that he was an exchange student.

Rumors spread fast, true or false, and when Alex and Danny reached their lockers (right next to each other), Dash and Kwan, the ninth grade bullies, were waiting for them.

"Ha!" Dash said with a sneer, "Fen-turd brought a friend! I'll take Fen-toad and you can take what's-his-face, Kwan!"

Alex's eyes widened. Were these bullies? He glanced sideways quickly to see Danny roll his eyes and mouth, "I get this all the time."

The tall, Asian jock reached for Alex, but Alex dodged and scrutinized Kwan. Kwan was tall, broad, and muscular, but he didn't have Alex's speed and training. He considered an actual karate kick but dismissed it. The thought should never have crossed his mind. It was his first day of school. He would do well not to mess it up.

He walked away with one last glance at Kwan, who didn't follow.

Danny saw Alex move and ran after him, slipping easily out of Dash's grip with some selective intangibility. "Just avoid those guys..." he said.

"Yeah, that's going to be easy," smiled Alex.

"Yeah?"

"They're not very quick, are they? Physically and mentally speaking."

Danny chuckled. "Not really, no."

Sam and Tucker caught up with them then, and they all went to homeroom. During class, Alex whispered his opinion of Mr. Lancer to his friends: "I like him. He seems to be quite intelligent."

The reaction to his comment was incredulous. "But...he's so...boring!" Tucker said lamely.

Alex smiled a wry grin. "Maybe just misunderstood." Perhaps it just took a fresh look from someone, someone who hadn't heard rumors of his boring-ness from the very beginning. Under the wrinkles, balding head, and large gut, Mr. Lancer could be a well-meaning teacher who, of course, didn't mean to be boring.

And so on and so forth. Alex's whispered opinions on each period's teacher were always met with looks of disbelief or hastily written notes of dissent.

Not only is he a Brit, said the notes passed along by the girls in the back, but he's cute, too! Too bad he's turning out to be a teacher's pet! And the discussion buzzed, undetectable to every teacher but as blatant as a foghorn to every kid in class. Sam managed to snatch a balled-up note that had fallen on the floor under her seat. She opened it at lunch to show her friends.

"I've hit the jackpot this time," she said smugly. "Alex, this page of notes is about you!"

"All about me?" he said faintly.

"Oh, go on and read it. I've read it already. It's pretty funny, really..."

He opened it slowly and began to read. Slowly a bemused expression spread over his handsome features. Danny and Tucker got out of their seats and tried to read over his shoulder. Alex crumpled the paper at once.

"Guys..." he said, looking hurt. Danny and Tucker clambered back to their seats, looking ashamed.

"Nah, I was kidding, don't look so down. You can read it. I didn't know you liked to read girls' notes." He tossed it to the table.

Danny flushed, but Tucker brushed him off and snatched the paper ball. "Of _course_ we do. It's a great way to find out if girls are available and stuff."

Sam let her face fall to the table. The sound her forehead and the table made together was a resounding _smack_.

"Sam?" Alex asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

"Oh. Yeah. I'm okay," she said, raising her head wearily but avoiding his eyes. Instead, she gazed at the lunchtime crowds, of which quite a few were staring at their table. No. Correction: they were staring at Alex.

"You might have noticed we're not the most popular people around." Danny said.

"That's okay. Being popular shouldn't be a priority," Alex said.

At these wise words of wisdom Sam raised her head higher and acquired a distant smile, while Danny and Tucker wilted a little. And for a moment, they were all silent.

The chatter around them rose and fell like waves crashing. Sam carried her tray to the trash and returned to doodle on her notebook for the next class. Tucker and Danny started talking about some game he'd never heard of. Alex pushed back his chair and stayed quiet, simply watching the crowd's movements and familiarizing himself with the table layout and the cliques that sat at them. It was rather relaxing. He hadn't had a normal school moment in months. Maybe MI6 decided his schooling was too irregular and intended to let this supplicate his education.

There it was again. Why did he get notions like that? As if he thought MI6 the reason for everything? It was like it had taken over his life. As if his life and his abilities were now government property.

And those ghosts. He hadn't seen one, though Sam had promised him he'd see one within the week. His ghost sighting was due soon, if she was to believed. He wondered again if MI6 believed in ghosts, if his government believed in ghosts, if his government had some secret thing devoted to the study of ghosts like the Americans had the famous Area 51...he was being irrational. But perhaps Danny could call up a ghost; after all, they had gadgets for almost everything else relating to ghosts.

Sam had been watching him for some time. Softly, she said to him, "What are you thinking about?"

He had been far away in his thoughts and it took an effort to pull himself back to reality.

She had purple eyes. Strange—he'd never seen that color before, or noticed that she had them. He hesitated. "Nothing." He lowered his eyes, not meeting her gaze.

"All right," she said, more normally, and returned to her drawing of a lithe, lean dragon. She had drawn it with black pen dead-center on her purple notebook, all scales and claws and teeth. Her talent was very evident. He smiled at the simple beauty of it.

He scanned the crowd again. There was a redheaded girl sitting alone in a corner: she looked familiar. She turned around. Jazz! She caught his eye then whipped around again like she didn't want to be seen. Why did Jazz sit alone? Didn't she have friends?

Yet another strange thing about the Fentons.

Danny and Tucker were getting up to empty their trays; he followed them.

--

He walked home with his new friends, thinking of the homework he had to do. They all had quite a bit today, and Danny and Tucker were complaining loudly. Alex smirked. The British system was stricter than here. His homework load here was only half of his usual in England. Still, it was an hour or two's worth of work. Danny unlocked the door to Fentonworks.

He turned to Alex, looking unwilling. "We've got a lot of homework ahead, Alex...study buddies?" He held up a hand.

Alex high-fived him. "Study buddies, then," he said, smiling slightly.

"I hope you're good at math, because I'm not!"

"Our homework is on Algebra, isn't it? It's really simple, I can teach you."

Danny eyed him curiously. "There's no guarantee I'll get it. I only get it when Sam teaches me—sometimes," he amended, looking down. "She's got some music lesson or something..." he trailed off.

He smiled again, encouragingly. "Okay, then. I'll be your substitute teacher for today. Let's go!"

--

He'd arrived on Monday afternoon, and now it was Thursday afternoon. It had been a very enjoyable three or four days spent with Danny and his friends. Tucker had brought over the games on Tuesday afternoon like he'd promised, but Alex hadn't had much chance to play yet. There was homework, school, and activities with his friends...everything else felt like it should come second.

Several things happened in a row on Thursday afternoon.

An envelope with no return address arrived for "Xander" at the Fentons' address. Jack nearly threw it away, but Maddie recognized it as a possible nickname for Alex and gave it to him. Alex felt it all over—it felt like a normal piece of paper inside. He opened it carefully. He read the signature first: the message was from Smithers, one of the adults he felt could be his friend at MI6. He made gadgets. But the envelope held no gadgets, just the note, he saw rather disappointedly.

_Xander! Get it? I didn't want this one to get thrown away, but I didn't want to be so obvious either. I knew someone would pick up on the name thing. _

_Oh dear, I only found out you had gone today! And they wouldn't even let me send you a Gameboy or even a game (not even a normal, non-lethal one.) But I trust Tucker has everything you need. _

_So, look after yourself, old boy. And good luck!_

_-Smithers_

_PS – Do me a favor and flush this note down a toilet or something. Paper that bursts into flames when it comes into contact with air is hard to get!_

Alex smiled at the note, not even wondering how Smithers knew about Tucker, then fulfilled Smither's wishes. He flushed both envelope and note down the toilet, watching the paper swirl and disappear with satisfaction.

Rather aimlessly, he wandered into the living room, freshly reminded of what he had come here to do. He stared out the window into the sky, which was fast approaching twilight. It was a lovely blue-orange color. He supposed he should start the Gold/Silver games, but wasn't quite in the mood to.

At that moment, the doorbell rang twice, impatiently, startling him out of his thoughts. From the basement he heard Jack yell, "Danny! Get the door! I'm busy!" and from the kitchen he heard Danny say, "Get the door, will you, Alex?"

So it happened that Alex answered the door and was the one who found Sabina on the other side, luggage in tow.

Sabina's blue eyes sparkled with the joy of surprising her old boyfriend. "Hi, Alex!"

Alex concealed his shock by quickly closing his mouth. "Sabina?"

"Of course it's me, silly," she giggled. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Of course. Do come in," he said. He took her bags and as she passed, Sabina whispered "That's a gentleman."

"Alex?" Danny asked, poking his head around the corner. "Wait, who's that?"

"Um, this is Sabina Pleasure, a friend of mine...Sabina, this is Danny Fenton."

Danny was still very confused as to why this girl was in his house with two pieces of luggage. "Um," he said in a carrying whisper, "Is she another exchange student or something?"

Alex shrugged, but Sabina answered, "You could say that."

"Kids?" Maddie's voice came from the basement. "Who was at the door?"

Sabina looked to Alex, who looked to Danny, who fumbled to answer the question. "Um, Sabina Pleasure?"

There was a moment's pause from the basement, then a shout of remembrance: "Oh! Oh, oh oh, didn't I tell you? I thought I told you we were getting another exchange student and that she'd be a friend of Alex's!"

Maddie emerged from the basement in full ghost-gadget-inventing regalia: her normal blue jumpsuit on, her hood up, and her goggles still on her eyes. Sabina let out a small scream. "Sab--!" began Alex.

"Oh dear, do these goggles look frightening on me?" Maddie inquired self-consciously.

Sabina backed up so she was side-by-side with Danny and muttered out of the corner of her mouth: "Your mother needs some serious fashion advice."

Maddie's question was still unanswered. Danny took initiative. "Uh, yeah Mom, they do. Anyways, no, you never told me she was coming."

Maddie looked hurt for a second, then gave a huge smile. "Well then, this will be a nice surprise for Jack and your friends!"

"Sure, okay."

Sabina was examining the living room. Alex could tell she was mentally redesigning the bland but acceptable-looking decor. He looked too. It seemed like a normal suburban household, but he'd found someone's sewing project that had "I Love Ghosts" half-sewn on it in the sofa cushions just yesterday, and more than once pieces of gadgetry not part of a remote control.

"Well," Maddie said, "I'm going to cook dinner, why don't you boys move the bed from the guest bedroom into Jazz's room for her?"

Danny started to say something but Alex raised his eyebrows at him meaningfully. "Okay, Mom."

Alex took Sabina's luggage again: two bulging suitcases full of something heavy. "Sabina," he said, "After we get you moved in you better tell me how you got here and why!" His voice softened. "I thought I'd never see you again."

In truth he missed her sometimes. She lived in California usually, where it was a long way from England. When MI6 called for a visit to America she'd been there, and for a brief while they'd had something going. He was suddenly acutely conscious of her presence behind him on the stairs.

"Now you're a fourteen, I think," came Sabina's voice.

"What?"

"You were a twelve before, but I think you're a fourteen out of twenty now. Congratulations."

"Er, thanks, Sabina."

"My pleasure."

Danny had been ahead of them and now carefully turned the doorknob to Jazz's bedroom. "Jazz?"

It was pink inside. Jazz had a pink canopy bed lined with a few stuffed toys, including her beloved Bearbert Einstein. By the window was a desk with many thick books resting upon it. Her room was unnaturally clean. Red-haired Jazz was sprawled on her bed reading a physics textbook. She looked up. "Yeah?" Then she did a double take at the luggage and Sabina. "What's going on?"

"Sorry to invade your privacy, sis, but Sabina here is moving in. She's another exchange student."

"Hello," Sabina smiled, waving.

"Does Mom know about this?" said Jazz faintly.

"Of course not," Alex cut in. "I'm going to hide her in your room and you're not going to tell a soul. Understand?"

Sabina stifled a giggle while Jazz looked mortified.

Alex laughed, feeling very at home. "Aw, come on, Jazz! Danny, is she always so gullible?"

"For a genius know-it-all, she's _very_."

As Alex dumped Sabina's luggage under her watchful eye on the other side of the room, Jazz blushed deeply at Alex's teasing, almost like an afterthought, and buried her face in her book again. Realizing it was a physics book and definitely too geeky to be seen, she glanced around for a different book but found nothing, just Sabina watching her futile efforts with an amused smile playing about her lips. Sabina rarely missed anything. She watched Jazz's face take on a more flushed tone with satisfaction.

With a last glance backward Alex and Danny left the room to move Sabina's bed into Jazz's room. Alex caught a fleeting glimpse of the girls' faces and knew it would be a long and unhappy stay for Jazz. Sabina could be sassy and intimidating when she wanted to, and he was sure she would push her advantage as far as she could. Though this was a record time for Sabina: It had barely been, what, twenty seconds before her victim had been thoroughly unsettled?

"Girls," he sighed to no one in particular.

"Huh? What?" Danny grunted as he lifted his half of the bed frame.

"Didn't you see them stabbing each other with their eyes? I knew Sab and Jazz were going to be enemies from the start." Alex lifted his half easily and he moved crablike, yet still gracefully, backwards down the hall.

"I guess Sabina isn't much into school and studying? 'Cause Jazz is like this total girl nerd."

"I know she's smart enough at least to pass her exams with flying colors. She doesn't need to try, really. But it's going to take more than that to—"

Alex stopped talking. They had reached the girls' room. They set down the bed frame, then brought in the mattress and sheets. Sabina got up from where she'd been unpacking her clothing and took over making the bed. "Thanks, boys, I'll take over from here."

"OK, Sabina. Dinner will be soon," Alex told her.

He eyed Danny for a clue as to what to do next.

Mealtimes were not so structured here. Danny shrugged. "We'll holler."

They had nearly reached the stairs when Jazz fled the room and ran after them down the dark hallway, closing the door a little too hard behind her. "Danny, Alex, please, no, I can't live with her, I just can't, I—"

The door creaked open behind her. Sabina stood in the bright crack of the door, staring down Jazz coolly.

Jazz froze. "—I mean, she's wonderful, I can't believe it. That's why I...can't believe I'll be living with her...for an entire month." Her voice broke and she looked like the little girl Danny remembered before she'd gone through puberty and turned into a bossy know-it-all.

Danny was consoling her as best as he could, yet also at the same time trying to move as far away as possible from Sabina. "Three and a half weeks only, Jazz. Come on, you can handle anything. She's not so bad. Isn't she, Alex?"

Alex couldn't very well lie. Sabina was not your average girl. He cocked his head to the side with an innocent expression on his face, revealing nothing.

"Okay then," Danny sighed. Like a good little brother, he patted her on the back and referred her to a mom-to-daughter, heart-to-heart chat. "Sorry—I don't know anything about girls, 'kay?"

Alex's lips twitched. He couldn't get over how...fulfilling it was to live with a family. It would be nice if he could stay with these people for more than a month. Or, three and a half weeks. He put a hand to his forehead. He had three and a half weeks to save the world once again. He let Danny wander away with Jazz while he entered his shared room and slumped on his bed. The rumpled sheets were cool against his cheek.

Three and a half weeks. He shouldn't let anything get in the way of this. Not school, not friends, not family. Tomorrow, he would take out the games and play them seriously. He felt a twinge of irony. The need to play games like it would save the world was overwhelmingly backwards. But it had to be done this way. Didn't it? It was the only way...he felt the responsibility weigh down on his shoulders and he closed his eyes, pretending it was his last rest before the work would begin.

* * *

_YOW! 9/5/07 fixed Sabina where she says hi to jazz...Sabina is from England. Not "Cali". Now I gotta fix chapter one's stupid summary. _

_As always, questions and comments and anything you'd like to tell me...say it in a review :)_


	3. It was nothing really

_WUH HO. last chapter i said there'd be a surprise guest. No, that's not true. I messed up. sabina was the surprise but that ended up in the middle of chapter two, the very chapter i wrote that in. how stupid. Also fixed stupid mistake where i made sabina Californian. She's british, from Wimbledon, England._

_this isn't my favorite chapter, because it's sort of filler stuff. it also doesn't flow quite right. sorry for all the alex and sabina stuff, they're way too fun to write and since they're fun to write i write as them too much and...hey, i'm having fun. that's a plus. next chapter or the next things should get moving._

_Oh well. here is chapter three. 7 or so pages (a nice cliffhanger). I'm posting this at midnight the second day of school. Whoop whoop...bad time, but whatever._

_so last time on missingno Alex fell asleep cuz he was jetlagged and he'd just resolved he was gonna solve that glitch thing if it was the last thing he did. hahaha._

* * *

Soft footsteps. A soft hand on his head. His name being spoken. 

"Alex?"

It was Sabina.

"It's time for dinner. Get up, sleepyhead."

Her voice brought him back from a deadening tiredness that had infected his whole body. He got up slowly, unwillingly. It was dark outside, and most of the room was shrouded in soft shadow.

"C'mon, Alex. You're still jetlagged? I feel great..."

Alex took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Oh, Sabina, you're always so energetic."

Sabina frowned at him, looking him full in the face. "Well, you look like an old man."

"Old man?!" Alex said, astounded. That certainly wasn't a very flattering description.

She took his hand then and pulled him down the stairs to the warm light and the welcoming smell of food. "Your eyes," she muttered as she navigated the stairs two at a time. Alex compensated by walking down normally twice as fast. "You're always so serious, always thinking about your spy stuff...aren't you? Aren't I right?"

She pulled him around a corner at the foot of the steps. Alex stared at her, taken aback.

"Alex...relax. Have some fun. It won't kill you," she said softly, her tone imperceptibly sad. She leaned in and kissed his cheek, then led him around the corner into the light.

Maddie had decided it would be buffet style tonight due to six people instead of their now-normal five. It was too much for their small, round table. "I know this is probably another super-important mission you're on. I don't know why they'd dump you here in the middle of nowhere for it—but listen: you don't have to do it on your own," she said quietly as she stood in line next to him for food.

That struck Alex as profound. He'd always been on his own, alone. Even when they'd given him help he'd ended up by himself in the end. Was it possible this one would be different, when he'd given up hope it would be?

The kids opted to eat on the sofa while the parents ate at the table. Danny and Sabina, back to her fun-loving self, dominated the conversation, mainly because Jazz was too afraid of or mad at Sabina to speak, and Alex was pondering Sabina's advice. Danny would talk about school, or some new invention his parents invented that was utterly useless and fascinating at the same time, and Sabina would interrupt with a question that was either a very good one or one that no one would have thought of—except her, of course. It made for interesting talk and Alex could see Jazz was trying very hard not to interrupt with questions and comments of her own. The family dynamics were playing out very strangely, he decided. With Sabina in the mix, Jazz would now have to be left out in some way. Perhaps as a favor to Danny and also to Jazz, he could talk Sabina into letting Jazz off easy. Not everyone was as sophisticated and savvy as Sabina.

Strange. She didn't even get the official tour of the house like he had. He guessed Mrs. Fenton had wanted Jazz to do it and form a bond, but apparently she hadn't had the chance before Sabina broke her spirit.

Suddenly it occurred to him, watching Sabina ask yet another flabbergasting question, that he hadn't found out why or how she'd gotten here and found him. For the rest of the dinner he tried to find a good way to ask, but she was too absorbed in ghost theory and Danny was too busy trying to explain it in an understandable way and failing.

After dinner, Sabina announced she'd be taking her shower and going to bed immediately, so there was no chance to talk to her then. As Alex waited, Danny let him use his computer and he immediately researched any glitches he hadn't known about and tried them out then and there on his games. It was more than half an hour later that Sabina emerged, smelling like sweet peas, steam gushing out of the bathroom.

"Wow, Sab, that's pretty thick," Alex commented, struggling to breathe in the damp air of the bathroom. He noticed a lot of hair care products scattered here and there on the counter and in the shower. "And that's a lot of bottles..."

"Huh?" Sabina turned. "Oh, those. A girl's got to look good. And also, she needs her beauty sleep to wake up early tomorrow for her first day of school." She turned back in the direction of her room.

"Sabina, wait."

She looked at him and waited, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

"Just how, and why, did you come here?"

She half-smiled at him. "Be my wake-up call at five-thirty tomorrow, and I'll tell you everything."

"Five-thirty?! School starts at eight..."

She blinked at him slowly. "You do not want to know how much time I spend on my hair and makeup each morning. But I suppose you'll find out anyway because you'll be staying awake with me tomorrow morning. Remember! Five-thirty sharp!"

Without waiting for an answer, she went to her room, knowing at five-thirty the next morning she would be woken up by his hands shaking her shoulder, his whisper in her ear...or maybe he would pull off all her blankets at once so she would be shivering in the morning chill. If he wasn't in one of his annoyingly serious moods, that would be the Alex thing to do. She smiled to herself, wrapped herself in the blankets, and fell asleep.

Alex didn't chase her. He only sighed and decided it would have to be an early night for him too. Braving the warm, damp lingering remnant of the perfumed steam, he took his shower and retired much earlier than he was used to, setting his alarm for 5:15. Fifteen minutes would be all he needed to get ready for school...he didn't understand how Sab need two _hours_.

Before he fell asleep, he suddenly remembered something that had been bugging him throughout dinner and after: he noticed Sabina didn't think ghosts were real. Well, he didn't either, but at least he accepted the possibility now after seeing the extensive weaponry in the basement. Sabina had played along well with Danny's ideas but always danced on the edge of disbelief. If a real ghost came, how would she react?

He was too tired and knew he wouldn't remember this tomorrow anyway...he finally let it go, fell asleep, and knew nothing more.

Danny didn't shower at night. He preferred simply falling into bed at the end of the long day and having a shower get his brain functioning again. He passed the bathroom and sniffed. It still smelled a little like flowery soap. Maybe it was a good idea to shower at night; then you would go to bed smelling good. Mentally, he slapped himself. Why was he thinking about this?

Jazz came out from her room then, looking startled. "Hey, Jazz," greeted Danny.

"It's only like ten o'clock. I can't believe she's already asleep! I mean, she sort of struck me as the late-sleeper type..."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Sabina definitely struck you...like a hurricane. You still don't know what hit you. You'll get used to her." He glanced inside his room. "Alex is asleep too."

Jazz looked from his room to her room and back again. "Are they...you know," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "boyfriend-girlfriend?"

Danny sighed deeply. "Only girls would wonder about that. I don't know and I don't care, why don't you ask her?"

"Why _don't_ you care? You're a guy!"

"And you're a girl!"

They glared at each other, until finally Danny shook his head without another word and climbed into his bed carefully, to not wake Alex.

Jazz got into bed too, suspicion whizzing through her genius brain; but she still couldn't figure it out in a snap like she usually would have. Alex and Sabina, Sabina and Alex... Were they, or were they not together? After all, why else would she have followed him here? Argh! It was driving her crazy. Why were her feelings so confused about Alex? He was way too young for her. But why, oh why, did he have to be so darn cute? What was wrong with her?

It never took Danny too long to fall asleep, though tonight he did stay awake for a few minutes, looking at the back of Alex's fair-haired head, and wondering what his connection with Sabina was. And then he was blissfully asleep, unaware his sister would not be for another two hours.

--

"Rise and shine, Sab," Alex mumbled to Sabina's sleeping form and stifled a yawn. It was exactly five-thirty in the morning. Her back was turned toward the wall, away from him. Her brown hair fanned out over the pillow and over her shoulders. He put out a hand to shake her but hesitated. It'd been a while...he shook his doubts away. She'd asked for this. So instead of shaking her, he put his mouth close to her ear and blew. Sabina's eyes snapped open with a squeal. "Alex!" she seethed, secretly pleased. Alex tilted his head in Jazz's direction and put a finger to his lips. Sabina got out of bed easily and mouthed some words at Alex, accompanied with some eye rolling. They read "yeah, yeah, yeah." Then she waved him away. Alex gave her a look. _Is that all I'm good for?_

Apparently it was. Now he was uselessly awake for another two hours. He listened to the water running through hidden pipes and the spray of water against the shower curtain, bored yet unable to go back to sleep. Sabina had commanded it so.

He had never been able go back to sleep so soon after waking up, anyway. He picked up Tucker's Gameboy Advance. This one had the Sapphire version on it and he had just started a new game. Suddenly it hit him how pointless and how long this would take. Suddenly he had an overwhelming urge to shake Danny awake and pour out his story, willing him to explain why he had to come to the ghost capital of the world just to mess with game glitches. Why? Did ghosts have something to do with glitches that MI6 knew about and he didn't? What was the significance of sending him here? Was there any? Maybe Danny would know...

Alex glanced over at Danny. He was sound asleep, his mouth open slightly. He mumbled something unintelligible and rolled over. The sound, in the quiet of their room, was alarming, especially because Sabina had just turned off the water. Was she finally done washing her hair? It was about time. He stared down at the game in his hand and turned it off without saving. There was no way he could do this alone (_why did he keep returning to the same thought?_); Sabina had been right last night. He touched his fingertips to his cheek where she'd kissed him. When he got to school he'd ask the lot of them to help. Because he had just realized he needed it. Sam and Tucker were twice as tech-savvy as he was. This time, he would not work alone, and the realization stung him like something long forgotten.

The bathroom creaked open and released a gush of passion-fruit scented steam. Sabina was wearing what she was wearing in bed again: a black cami top and light plaid pajama pants. Her hair was wet, making it look a darker brown than it really was, dripping on the towel draped about her shoulders.

"Hmm...how should I do my hair today?"

The tone of her voice suggested Alex should come stand by her. Alex complied, and squinted at the fogged-up mirror.

"Braids? Ponytail? Side-ponytail...curled...straight..." she muttered, twisting a strand of wet hair around a finger.

Alex blinked. "Whatever you want..."

"...mm, silky-smooth and flowing...straightener, I need my straightener. Thanks, Alex." She moved past him into Jazz's room. He could hear her rummaging in her suitcase.

"For what?" Alex called as loudly as he dared.

"Helping me decide!" came the reply.

Alex shook his head bemusedly. There it was again, the topic of girls and their strangeness. With Sabina in the same house as him he ought to be happier. And he was getting there. Sabina provided a lot of joy that he'd missed in the last few months. He smiled. He was sure Sabina would make other friends fast and learn the best Casper High hangouts faster than anyone. She was a marvel.

For the next half hour the house was still asleep, except for him and Sabina. He lingered in the bathroom doorway, watching her carefully straighten, comb, and tease her hair until it flowed silkily over her shoulders. He even watched her do her makeup. He learned a lot that morning about the plight of being a girl. They take forever in the mornings preening and primping, but in the end, they look like they've combed their hair properly but other than that, no different.

"Is that an insult?" Sabina asked.

"Well, I'm just saying you look the same with or without makeup. You look perfectly fine to me."

She squinted at him with her hands on her hips. "I can't decide if that's insulting or not."

"Take it as a compliment and trash your blush and foundation. You'll get more sleep."

"Never!"

Alex snorted and shook his head in wonderment, then remembered something. "Sabina, you said you'd tell me everything now."

She looked at him expressionlessly. "Did I?"

"Come downstairs and we'll talk, all right?"

It was a nice sort of quiet down in the kitchen, almost like it was just him and Jack again, at home, eating breakfast together. But Sabina was very different from Jack, and this wasn't his house. They sat facing each other across the small table with identical glasses of milk.

"There's not much to tell, Alex," she said. "Jack called me soon after she found out you were going. She said you were sleeping when she called. Tricky woman, she is! She suggested I come stay with you as a surprise, and my parents thought it was a fine idea."

"Convincing them must have taken a superhuman effort," Alex muttered.

"What? Don't you want me here?"

"You're fine, you're fine. It's just kind of farfetched."

"I'm here. You'd better believe it. Really, taking a month off from that convent school isn't hard, and Mum and Dad agree being an exchange student is a highly educational experience."

He tapped his fingers on the side of his glass, thinking. As an only child, Sabina must have been _very _convincing...or maybe she had had enough practice before already. Yes, she was definitely a marvel. He still quite couldn't believe she was here, in this house, drinking milk, with him. It was unreal.

"So, why are you here then? On vacation?" She lowered her voice. "Spying?"

"So you do believe me now," Alex stated.

"Yeah, you're a teenage James Bond. So tell me, is your mission impossible?"

--

Danny awoke blearily to his alarm. He shut it off, sat up sleepily, then remembered something. He bolted for the bathroom door just to see it slam shut. Jazz had beat him again in the race for the bathroom, and now he wouldn't be able to shower for about twenty minutes. Dangit.

Alex had seen everything; he'd just climbed the stairs to witness the event and now was laughing at him. "Shower at night like I do! That way you don't compete with Jazz...on the other hand, now that Sabina's here you'll have to get in before she does or you won't get it for...let's just say, a really long time."

Danny groaned. What a great start to a day...he burrowed back into his blankets and shut his eyes. "Wake me when she gets out."

--

Fentonworks was a chaos zone until about 7:45, where Jazz, Danny, Alex, and Sabina finally got out of the front door to walk to school. Sabina was rather nonplussed by the whole affair. She'd gotten up early and was therefore ready before any of them (except Alex). Disorder was not her lifestyle; as an only child, things followed rules there more than here and it kind of scared her to live with people like the Fentons.

It was sort of fun to watch, though. Sabina had her cereal while Jazz took her shower, double-checked her school bag while Danny took _his_ shower, and finally waited impatiently with Alex on the couch while the rest of the family ate their breakfasts. There wouldn't have been enough room again at the little table anyway.

At least they were on the way to school now. A real American public school! She'd heard so many things about them. She couldn't wait.

Then out of the corner of her eye she spotted Danny stop in his tracks. Wait. Was that a wisp of smoke out of his mouth? He couldn't possibly smoke. He wasn't the type.

"Um, I'll be right back, I might have forgotten something, catch up with you guys later!" he said in a rush and ran down an alley that was down the opposite direction from Fentonworks.

Sabina frowned. "That doesn't go anywhere. It's a dead end!" She turned an accusatory gaze on Jazz.

Jazz tensed. "Uh, he's confused, not awake yet...y'know?"

"Yeah, sure. I want to go see where he could possibly go down there. Wait, what was that flash of light?"

"Wh-what flash of light?" Jazz stammered.

Alex looked too, but he was too late. He glanced at Jazz, who was clearly very nervous. He could tell she knew exactly where he went and what he was doing.

But there was no chance to finish the thought. At that moment, a rather pudgy floating man swooped – floated – _flew _in front of him.

"I am the Box Ghost! Fear meeee!"

* * *


	4. Sure didn't expect anything like this

_Fourth chapter. I keep feeling like I need to slow down a bit with the action. Lol._

* * *

Alex jumped backwards in shock, breathing hard. "Whuuh?" was all he could manage. An apparition, he was hallucinating, he was dreaming...Sabina was screaming. He pulled her to him instinctively. However, she was solid enough, and trembling violently.

Another apparition zoomed out of nowhere and smashed into the floating man. "Geez!" it said. "You're getting really boring to fight!"

It looked like a kid, a mere teenager with pure white hair and bright green eyes, in a black jumpsuit with white gloves and boots. He snagged the fat man by his overalls and powered up something in his other hand...the thermos! Alex gasped. The very same as the one he'd been shown in the basement lab. Suddenly he realized this sort of thing must happen a lot, judging by Jazz's fearful, yet not frightened stance.

This kid must be a ghost. A superhero ghost? Whoever heard of that?

The kid suddenly froze and looked down from where he floated, holding the fat man at arm's length. "Oh, hey. I don't think I've, uh, met you guys, heh heh, judging by your reaction," he chuckled nervously. He cleared his throat. "Okay...official introduction...Hi, I'm Danny Phantom...and I fight ghosts. Because Amity Park is full of them and someone needs to get rid of them...I'm a ghost myself, see...I don't hurt humans...unlike the ones I fight..."

Alex stared. He had looked and sounded just like Danny, which was really giving him the creeps. He almost looked as if Danny had died and come back as a ghost dressed in a superhero-esque costume. He wondered what Danny thought about this ghost.

Ghosts were real...his breath caught in his throat as he gazed at it.

"...most of them, at least," the ghost was saying. "No, I meant...oh, dangit, never mind. See you around, or something," he mumbled, tired of trying to rectify his mistakes, and flew away, pulling the fat ghost behind him.

It took a moment for Alex to completely relax, and another to finally let out the breath he'd been holding. Jazz seemed perfectly calm now, though, and looked ready to keep walking like it had been an everyday event. Strange. It was a new idea to him.

Sabina was nowhere near "ready". Alex could feel her fear like something tangible. Beneath his supporting hand on her back he could feel her breathing, fast and frightened. "What were those...?" she gasped.

"Ghosts. They're gone, Sabina...it's okay..." Alex felt somewhat silly comforting a girl that he thought was fearless. "I should have warned you this town is full of them..."

Her breathing slowed surprisingly fast. She took a deep breath...and snapped her head up, staring into Alex's face. "Never mind that. Brief me later. Just tell me he didn't sound like Danny."

"He did," he said, knowing exactly who she meant. So that was what she had been afraid of...?

"_Tell me he didn't sound like Danny!_"

"Not only did he sound like him, he looked like him too," Alex said seriously. "Too bad you had your face buried in my shoulder the whole time, or you would have seen the resemblance."

Sabina glared angrily at him, but he gave her a crooked grin. Disgusted, she pushed him away and stalked off after Jazz, leaving him behind.

--

They found Danny waiting for them at the doors to the school. "Come on, guys, you're going to be late!" he said cheerily.

Sabina gave a cry of rage and would have bowled him over if Alex hadn't caught her hand at the last moment. "There was a ghost! Two ghosts! Right after you left! Where were you? How did you get here so fast?!" she demanded as Alex pulled her hand over hand back to his side so she couldn't scratch Danny's eyes out.

Danny's brows shot up in surprise. "Um...I ran? I had...stuff to do, okay? I'm sorry I scared you so much by not walking with you _all_ the way to school," he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Sabina shrank a little in his ridicule.

"And anyway, you've got Alex to protect you, and Jazz, who knows plenty about ghosts. I'm sure she could have told you those ghosts were harmless."

"They were," Jazz said quickly. Sabina turned her death glare on Jazz, who hastily supplied, "You didn't ask!"

The two girls glared at each other for a moment longer before both turned away in a huff. Danny and Jazz agreed with a single look to go on ahead, leaving Alex to deal with the temperamental Sabina. After all...she was _his _friend. He was the one to deal with it.

Alex took one look at her and knew it wasn't a good time. "Let's go to the office and get your stuff sorted out. We'll talk later."

--

No matter the size of a school, news always travels at the same rate: fast. Very fast. By lunchtime Sabina was regarded as interesting or more interesting than Alex and the two had already been labeled as the "British couple", and very "posh".

The power of name labels was astonishing. Now that Alex and Sabina were supposed boyfriend and girlfriend, Alex attracted less attention from bullies and girls alike while Sabina got more than plenty from girls more curious about Alex than herself.

Alex compared it to a game. Sabina agreed, at first...then decided it was torture. She was sick of hopeful girls coming up to her and furtively asking her if she and Alex were together.

She didn't really know herself. It was up to him, really. He hadn't said a word or given even a single clue to what he thought about her. So she soon developed a ready response for those hated questions. A simple shrug, a smile, "we're just good friends", and a steely glare that said she would hunt down and kill anyone who dared to try and steal him away.

He was hers, and that was that.

Not too much later it was widely known that Sabina was as stuck-up as the British stereotype said she was.

"And this was all before fifth hour!" Sabina moaned to her table at lunchtime. Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Alex sat there, somewhat sympathetic but inwardly amused by her story, not really sure why.

"Well, I feel your pain. Just a tad less, though. I've had guys come up to me and ask after you, Sab. Asked if you were available," Alex told her with a smile.

"Well, I am most certainly not," she said flatly. But inside her, something relaxed. They were equal now.

Sam and Tucker raised their eyebrows in unison. Sam found them a little hard to read. This just added another tricky piece to the puzzle.

"I'll tell them no, then," Alex agreed and started to peel an orange.

"So..." Tucker began. "Danny says there was a ghost attack this morning..."

Sabina turned her eyes on Tucker. "Is that so. Oh yes. I know all about it. I was there. In fact, one of the ghosts sounded just like Danny. He said he was also named Danny, and Alex said he even _looked _like Danny. What kind of trick are you trying to play on me? Are you trying to freak me out? Because it's not working." Sabina was trying to keep a stiff upper lip, but it was clear she was shaken.

Sam wasn't sympathetic. "No one told you about ghosts and you tell me you're staying with Danny's parents?"

Danny felt a few pairs of accusatory eyes on him. "It's _my_ job to teach her about ghosts?" Aside, to Alex, he whispered, "I thought you would tell her. You're _her _friend."

Alex made a face and rolled his eyes.

"That settles it," Tucker announced, whipping out his PDA and calling up pictures of the ghosts they'd seen before. "Your education begins now."

--

There hadn't been enough time left at lunch before the kids had to return to class. All through the last periods Sabina couldn't pay attention. The few pictures of ghosts and tidbits of information buzzed in her head, waiting to be quieted. Finally school let out and her curiosity could be sated. Tucker, Sam, Danny, and Alex walked her home together.

"Skulker. Desiree. Youngblood. Aha, the Box Ghost. Familiar?"

"Yeah! He was one of the ghosts..."

Sabina stared at the picture in wonder. Tucker was a good teacher and Sabina felt like she'd entered a whole new world, a city filled with fantastical creatures in human form that were also dangerous. She didn't feel in danger, only blessed to know about these. Certainly in Britain she hadn't heard about anything like this. How could real ghosts have stayed a secret? Or was this a huge conspiracy?

"Yeah, old Boxy. He's about the only one that visits here that's not really dangerous. He's got this huge obsession with boxes, can you believe that?"

"Boxes?" she giggled, a bubbly sound.

"Boxes," Alex said, trying to imagine what it would be like to love boxes. He walked on the other side of Tucker, soaking in the information Tucker claimed was essential to survival in Amity Park. Alex decided he had been joking about that, but listened all the same. Not everyone in the city had Tucker's expertise and access to detailed statistics.

Sam joined them, catching up from behind. "It's insane. We find him a lot in the school's basement and in warehouses."

Sabina blinked. "We...find him?"

"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you. Me, Danny, and Tucker sort of hunt ghosts. I mean, Danny's got all these ghost weapons, might as well use them, right?" Sam laughed, a not completely convincing sound.

"Really," Sabina said, looking around for Danny, who was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Danny?"

Sam whistled, her eyes searching the sky. "I don't know, he must have run away again, silly boy."

Sabina followed Sam's eyes to see a black and white blur in the sky, about as high as the rooftops. It looked like a large bird. It sped down the street and turned a corner out of sight. She gasped. "I think I saw a ghost! Or else it was a really big flying penguin...he was black and white...didn't you say that ghost today was wearing black and white?" she added to Alex. Tucker tensed, throwing a glance at Sam, whose eyes widened.

"Yeah, Danny...Phantom," Alex supplied.

"Yeah, that's the one...oh, and he sounded like Danny, Danny, your friend, too!" Sabina said.

Sam looked from Sabina to Tucker and back openmouthed. _This girl was way too smart_.

Tucker did the same. _You're definitely right. What are we going to do? _

"Isn't that weird?" Sabina prompted. "He couldn't possibly have died and come back and stuff. That's such a weird coincidence..."

"It definitely is," Tucker said, not sounding very surprised, tucking his PDA back in his pocket and his hands as well. "Come on, we're going home. To Danny's house."

Sabina gasped dramatically. "Oh no. Did Danny die on the way home when I wasn't looking?" She even looked like she believed it. Which was possible. After all, she believed everything Tucker told her about ghosts, which is hard to stomach all at once on the first day of an education.

Alex sighed and pulled her forward from where she'd been rooted to the spot, lost in her thoughts. "That's pretty ditzy, coming from a girl I thought was smart."

"It could happen!"

Alex ignored her, but Sabina just asked Tucker another question. Tucker sighed, mumbled something generic and was quiet again. Sabina would not be diverted. Sabina asked even more questions. "When are you guys going ghost hunting again? Could I come along?"

Sam sighed. Might as well tell the truth, she thought, glancing over her black polished nails. She'd have to paint them tonight; they were getting chipped. "Whenever Danny gets the urge. It's up to him."

They stopped at Fentonworks and realized Danny was the only one with a key, so they pounded on the door. Jazz opened it, looking annoyed. "Don't you guys have Danny to let you in?" she snapped.

Sam gave her a pointed look.

"Oh. Okay."

Jazz held the door open for the ninth graders as they entered, wondering how soon it would be before Alex and Sabina found out too much.

"Hey, kids! Check out my new invention! It's the Fenton Acid Sprayer!" cried Jack as they came into the house, wildly waving about a large piece of green and silver plastic that looked like a water gun.

"Real creative, Dad," Jazz commented.

"Well, err, what would you call it, Jazzy?"

"I don't know...what does it do?" Jazz asked, before slapping a hand over her mouth and wincing. She'd just asked for a long, confusing talk on every aspect of the gadget, which was the last thing she wanted to hear now. Maddie caught her fear. "It melts ghosts, dear," she told her sweetly while clamping her hand over Jack's mouth.

Sabina frowned. "Surely you don't hurt the ghosts?"

"Why, the more pain it causes the better! Ghosts! Those dangerous, despicable ectoplasmic pests!" Maddie scowled fiercely.

Sabina stared. "What about Danny Phantom?"

Jack made a spectacular effort to free his mouth and finally succeeded. "What about him? Did you see him? Where did you last see him? We're going to hunt him down and dissect him! He's our least desirable number one!"

Sabina gaped. "But he's _good_!"

"Haha, that's funny, dear!" Maddie laughed cutely, then abruptly screeched, "All ghosts are evil! End of story!" Her high, sharp voice even drowned out Jack's brassy ranting and raving.

She felt a hand on her arm; Jazz was pulling her away from the scene and upstairs, and Alex, Sam, and Tucker followed. Jazz sat them all down on the floor of her room. "Don't mention him to them again, you'll just spark a wildfire. They think he's like the most evil ghost ever or something, but he's actually really good, he actually fights his own kind! And he doesn't hurt them. Not permanently, at least."

"Ghosts can die?" Alex asked. It was the first thing he'd said in a while.

"No one really knows," Jazz said. "Ask the internet if you must know, but _not_ Mom and Dad. You'll probably start them on a 'kill all the ghosts' rant again."

"Internet..." Sabina mumbled seriously.

"You can use my computer, here," Jazz offered.

Sabina was nodding, smiling genuinely, and taking it all in. Alex smiled. It looked as if she and Jazz were, if not friends, on each other's good sides at least.

"Well, I need to start on my English homework. I'll be downstairs."

"Okay, Alex," said Sabina, already signing on to her MSN and opening a browser.

Jazz, Sam, and Tucker left her room quietly and tiptoed down to Danny's room. "Just to check," Jazz whispered.

The door was closed. All was silent. Jazz opened it slowly. "Danny?" she whispered, surprised. She could only see the foot of his bed but he knew he was in it. He must have come home through his bedroom window again, which was closed. She hadn't heard him come through the front door.

Danny's black hair was rumpled and he was lying under his blankets on his bed. "Hey," he said softly. He looked sick, and his bright blue eyes were half-lidded.

"Which ghost?" Sam asked simply, kneeling at his bedside and taking his one exposed hand in her small one. He gazed into her violet eyes and smiled a little at her.

"Skulker again, but it had to be today he finally remembered he could use his invisibility. My ghost sense couldn't keep up with him. Eventually he hit one of my shields, so I nailed him right then, but he got in some good punches before that." He brought his hand up to rub his forehead. "I have a massive headache," he said, closing his eyes briefly.

"I hope it goes away soon," Jazz said quietly. "Need some headache medicine?"

"No," he whispered. "Give me a few hours. The bruise on my thigh will take a few more, but I can walk. I heal fast."

Sam nodded and stood up and they made to leave.

"Get some sleep, man...don't forget that English story when you wake up, okay?" said Tucker.

Danny smiled faintly and closed his eyes as they closed the door. The room was dark again, and comfortingly cool. He knew he couldn't survive school without them, ghost powers or not. He was very grateful to have his sister and his friends...he turned to face the wall and fell asleep.

Alex sat at the kitchen table a floor below, staring at his English assignment but not thinking about it. He was thinking about what he had heard upstairs, outside Danny's room. He had come back upstairs; he needed something from Danny's room, but heard voices inside. So he had listened, like the spy he was...was it right? He didn't know any more, but he just had to know what was going on with Danny.

All he knew now was that Danny Fenton had gotten home earlier than them...and was more than he seemed.

* * *

_oh noes!  
alex is too smart, seriously, but well, he's gotta be.  
how much time has he got now to solve the problem? not enough..._


	5. But everyone's oblivious

_Hey HEY! been a while! been way too much of a while! i give up trying with these chapters, i thought they were lame and emo and stupid or something but after reading them through fresh and new for the new year i decided they were fine. JUST-squeaking-by-fine. but this one is probably my **least** favorite chapter so far. next chapter to follow shortly, i think it's better. that is, if my dad doesn't kill the internet here again. i'm very sorry for the long wait.

* * *

_It was after dinner. Danny had come down and done the last of the homework with Alex and Sabina at the table. The rest of it, he said, he'd done upstairs with a bit of help from Sam and Tucker over IM. Danny's explanation for his disappearance and mysterious reappearance? He'd forgotten something at school and had run back to get it, and Jazz had given him a ride back and therefore had come back early. Alex agreed it was a very plausible story, but something made him not buy it. He resolved to keep his eyes and ears open more than ever before. A part of him itched to work on the glitch mystery, but most of him knew now that ghosts were a huge factor, and he was meant to discover ghosts on his own. An MI6 briefing would never have been able to tell him enough.

To see ghosts in their natural habitat; that was the only way that would do.

It was strange how MI6 worked. He hoped he had figured out MI6 right this time. They were counting on him, and they were rarely wrong.

Sabina was rapidly becoming an expert on ghosts, as much as she could be by surfing ghost websites. "I cannot believe this!" she nearly shouted. "How could I have not known this stuff existed? Why didn't they teach it at school?"

"I don't know, Sabina," Alex said wearily. "They didn't say anything about it at school either...I think it's an American thing. I mean, we've got plenty of pixies and brownies and stuff anyway..."

"This is _way _cooler," Sabina said. "Look at this," she pointed to the Jazz's computer monitor. "Here's a whole page devoted to Danny Phantom...based in Amity Park! Here! Obviously made by a girl. Look at this disgusting pink background and the hearts and the stupid background song and the terrible page design..."

"...but I betcha she has really good pics of her idol. Keep it here and turn off the sound."

He scanned the page and found a "pictures" link. "Click there."

It took a while to load another flashy pink background, but when it did, it revealed a page cluttered with pictures of Danny Phantom: fuzzy ones, close-ups, clear photos, newspaper clippings, camera phone shots, specks in the sky. More kept appearing as they loaded. A lot of them had the ghost covering his face or with his back turned, but there were a few good ones. There was no end to them all. Alex wondered which psycho created this site.

"It's Danny!" Sabina squealed, poking the screen. "In...a super suit or something."

"It's Danny _Phantom_. The ghost."

Sabina was suddenly expressionless. "You're right. He looks like Danny, sounds like Danny, why _isn't_ he Danny?"

Lying on her bed lazily, Jazz finally looked up from the _Seventeen _magazine she'd borrowed from Sabina. "What have you got there, you two...whoa."

"Cool, eh?" Sabina asked, smiling a catty grin.

"I know the girl who made it, and she's a psycho. You two should go to bed. Could I get on? I need to check my email," Jazz said, dismissing them.

"Geez!" Sabina snorted from the hallway just before closing the bedroom door behind her. "You just want a chance to ogle him too, don't you?"

Jazz only had time to shoot her a disgusted look before the door closed completely. She shook her head in the silence of her room, alone at last. "Ogle my own brother?" she muttered under her breath. "That's nasty." She clicked out of the fansite with a disgusted eye roll.

In the dark hallway beyond Jazz's room crouched two amateur spies.

Sabina leaned close to Alex as Jazz spoke and froze for a few seconds before speaking. "Did you hear that?" she whispered. "Did you?"

Her breath was warm and tickled his ear. Alex winced and resisted the urge to shudder, and instead crept around the corner to his and Danny's room, hoping Jazz wouldn't hear them. Danny was thankfully nowhere to be seen. Alex sat down on his bed and paused. "Yes, barely," he said quietly, "though I don't know what that was all about," but he already had the unsettling feeling of a beginning of a theory building in his gut.

"It's simple! Jazz thinks that ghost is her brother!" Sabina giggled, bouncing up and down beside him.

"Shhh!" Alex hissed and sat still, frowning hard at the carpet just beyond his feet. His mind wouldn't, couldn't compute. He had the facts, he had the theories, he had the tidbits he'd heard from eavesdropping, but he couldn't put the pieces together. In his mind he knew they would fit somehow, but he couldn't visualize it. Not yet.

Sabina calmed down and sat as still as Alex, twin chameleons deep in thought.

Alex thought about all the times he'd seen Danny, and the ghost, and their timing. Had they ever been in the same place at once? He thought about the ghost business going on downstairs in the lab. He thought about having parents like the Fentons. He thought about living here in Amity Park where the impossible happens. He thought about...superheroes.

Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were so similar, it was frightening how one was a ghost and one was a teenager, his roommate, his friend.

If only Danny were around so he could ask him. Alex was sure he would know something. He had to have noticed those things before him!

Alex voiced these thoughts aloud to Sabina, who nodded gravely.

They searched the whole house hastily then, but he wasn't anywhere. Sabina sobered at this revelation. "Didn't he promise he'd take me ghost fighting next time he went?" she said sadly.

Alex thought of the first conversation he'd overheard, where Danny had been in bed in his room with his sister and friends around him, talking about a fight, and a ghost, whose name he had forgotten now. Ghost fighting. And talk of invisibility and shields. Ghost sense. He now had an idea.

"Maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea, Sab," he said carefully. "I've heard it's...violent."

Sabina looked at him strangely then, but bid him good night and went to take her shower. Alex laid down on his bed, vaguely wondering if he should be doing something constructive such as mess with the pokemon games, but instead found himself constructing a crazy mess of an idea.

_Danny hunts ghosts for fun...but dresses up like one too. _

_Danny hunts ghosts for fun...but gets another ghost to possess him to do it... _

_Danny hunts ghosts for fun...and had a twin brother that died and is now a ghost, and fights with him. _

_Danny _is _a ghost. _

None of them seemed very plausible.

_Danny is a ghost. That hunts other ghosts for fun._

Alex squeezed his eyes shut in concentration. _Danny...hunts ghosts to protect the town. _

That was what Danny Phantom had said, at least mumbled about, when they'd seen him!

His eyes still closed, he heard a loud _whump_, the sound of a body hitting a bed. He opened his eyes and nearly cheered. It was Danny, back from wherever he'd been, and maybe he'd answer some questions...

"Hey, Danny," Alex greeted.

"Hey Alex," Danny replied tiredly.

"You went out ghost hunting?"

Danny winced, just the slightest gesture, but Alex caught it. "Yeah."

"What was it like?"

Danny cast his eyes toward the window. There was a bright quarter moon shining in a dark velvet sky. "Oh, you know...they got too boring to fight after a while," he said lightly and grinned at him.

Alex raised his eyebrows. Danny Phantom had used a similar phrase. "Are you Danny Phantom or something?" he asked bluntly.

"Wh-what?" Danny asked loudly, clearly not expecting it. "Haha, that's impossible, how could someone be half-ghost?!"

"Anything is possible." Alex's expression changed minutely, as if something had just occurred to him. "Look. I'm going to tell you why I'm really here, and you tell me about what you really do when we can't find you anywhere in the house."

Danny stared back defiantly, but there was something in his eyes that denoted fear, and yes, curiosity. Danny hadn't suspected he was anything other than an exchange student? He shouldn't have been surprised; Alex had played his part well this time. There was no reason to wonder.

Alex glanced toward the door, which was slightly ajar, and lay over on his stomach facing Danny. "Danny, I haven't been completely honest. I'm an exchange student, sure. But I'm also a spy. I was sent here to investigate a rumored virus that could decimate all of technology and in turn endanger many lives. My...employers told me the beginnings of it were in the Pokemon games, specifically the Missingno glitch. That's why I wanted to mess with glitches when I first came. But I realized it was impossible to learn anything from them. I was sent to this ghosty place for a reason, and I know the virus must have to do something with ghosts. Maybe just in general, or one particular ghost..."

Alex noticed Danny's expression had turned serious when it had been watchful and curious before.

"What, is there one ghost you think could be behind it?"

Danny hesitated, looking down at his pillow and playing with the edge of the fabric. "Yeah. Sort of. But go on."

"Okay. Er, so, basically I have three weeks to stop it from happening. I have to find the virus' source and destroy it, disable it, whatever."

Danny looked like he was brooding. "Tucker could help you with that..."

"Yeah. I know. Haven't exactly taken him up on the offer yet, though. You and Sabina are the only ones who know what I do here. So...what about your secret?" Alex asked.

Danny sat straight up. "Wait. You're a spy? I totally didn't get that till now..."

"Yeah. Teenage James Bond, as many have called it." His gaze sharpened. "Are you really Danny Phantom?"

Danny didn't even wince, as if he had somehow already known this would happen. He looked intimidated by Alex now, younger than his fourteen years, and strangely vulnerable. "How did you know?" It wasn't spoken teasingly.

Alex looked away. "I listened. I eavesdropped. I guess you guys were too used to everyone being oblivious. But we aren't." Alex half-smiled.

He nodded and said, almost in a whisper, "Can I trust you?"

"I'll never tell," Alex said, his brown eyes meeting blue ones, and the warm and reassuring tone of his own voice startled even him. But in his heart he knew it was true.

Danny got up, strode over to the door, and closed it firmly. He turned around, facing Alex, his back to the door and seemed to hesitate again. "I have to talk to Sam and Tucker first..."

"I understand."

"I'll be back soon."

Danny closed the door behind him and stood still for a moment, trying to clear his muddled thoughts before continuing down the stairs. What had he gotten in to? He was about to flat-out expose his other half to Alex...which would weaken the secret greatly. And of course Sabina would have to know. He grew slightly annoyed at that thought and grabbed the phone, dialing Tucker.

"Hey, Danny."

"Hey, Tucker. Could you get Sam on another line? We need to have a group huddle."

"Yeah, one sec. What's the occasion?"

"Hello?" came Sam's voice almost immediately.

"Nice, Tucker," Danny chuckled faintly. "That was exactly one second...anyways, hi Sam, and the reason why we're having this special group chat is because..." he looked left into the living room, right into the kitchen, and left again. All clear. "Alex pretty much knows what I am."

Twin gasps reached his ears and then sighs of disappointment.

"How did he find out?" "Are you going to tell him?" "Are you going to _show _him?"

"Well...there's not much wiggle room. He's told me what he really is..."

"What, is he a halfa too?" Sam asked sarcastically.

"No, it's more complicated. If that's possible. And he sounded like he had some ghost trouble too...look...both of you come over, right now, real quick, say it's a sleepover. We're all going to have a little chat, just the five of us."

"We'll be right there!" Tucker cried, and they hung up.

Danny plodded back up the stairs to his room. "Party in our room," he informed Alex. "Sam and Tucker are coming over for a sleepover. Sabina's invited. Oh...Jazz too. No secrets allowed," and he looked meaningfully at him.

Alex looked surprised. "Okay. When?"

Danny smiled a little, but inside he was surprised at how readily Alex agreed to the implication that he would tell his story too. Did he care if people knew? Was he past caring? "In half an hour." That would be ten o'clock.

Alex glanced in the direction of the bathroom and heard the noise of the shower. Sabina would be just in time. He felt a little excited, and nervous. To see his transformation would be the most surreal thing in the world...that is, unless Danny had another explanation for everything. What in the world could that be?

--

_At approximately one in the morning, Jack Fenton sat up straight in bed, somehow wide awake. "Bathroom," he mumbled out of habit, lumbering to the door, but he realized he didn't need to go. He was about to return to bed when he caught a snatch of giggles from somewhere and muffled thumping from the direction of Danny's room. _

_His eyes widened, calculating punishments and possibilities. He made his way to Danny's closed door and pushed it open suddenly, simultaneously turning on the light. _

_"YOW! Who kicked--" was the first thing he heard. It was Jazz, and the door had hit her square in the shin. "Dad?!" she said, squinting in the bright light. _

_"Jazz...what are all these people doing in Danny's room..." Jack began gruffly. _

_--_"And that's all I remember of my dream!" Jack said proudly the next morning at the breakfast table after the kids had gone to school. "I can't make thick or thin out of it."

Maddie frowned delicately. "Jaaacckk...are you sure you don't sleepwalk?"

"Of course not! I would have known!"

She wrinkled her nose at this, bemoaning her husband's noticeable lack of logic. "You mean _I_ would have known. I know you don't sleepwalk, thankfully. I don't know _what_ that could have been..."

"A brainfart!" Jack said brightly.

"A _what? _Oh, never mind. Danny _knows_ that they have to be asleep by midnight when he has his friends over! Although I can't understand why Jazz was there, she's usually so responsible and..."

"Uptight?"

"I give up...forget it, Jack. They're fine. No harm done."

--

"Danny, I can't believe you did that!" Sabina squealed on their way to school.

"What? Oh, that," he said, and grinned slightly. "It was nothing. I've done it before. Possessing my dad isn't that hard."

"You're lucky he wasn't all awake and saw you in ghost form," Tucker warned.

"I'm just glad you had the right instinct this time, anyway," Sam sighed.

"Still...it was kind of risky," commented Alex.

"Everyone's oblivious here...except you guys. And Jazz," Danny said. "There's nothing to worry about...except ghosts." _And Valerie,_ he added silently.

They were almost to school. Danny saw Dash outside the fence, chatting up a vulnerable-looking brunette. Dash looked up to see Danny, pantomimed a beating, and dipped his head again to focus on the girl.

"...and jerks like Dash."

"There's nothing to worry about. You deal with the ghosts, I'll deal with the bullies," Alex laughed, and the others joined in. With an end to _most_ of the secrets (Valerie's was hers alone to share...), everyone could take a deep breath and relax just a bit more.

A school morning had never felt so carefree.

* * *

_stay tuned for a special appearance from president hartman! now if he were a candidate..._


	6. To what's inside

_um hello, hasn't it been a while? well um i've procrastinated enough, here it is. i've borrowed Lance Thunder, whom I believe is the weatherman from Danny Phantom - but I'm not sure if the channel's right. I don't know the actual anchorman from DP. I know FOP's is Chet Ubetcha though...soyeah. if you know DP's newscaster do tell please. And the channel._

It was dusk, and snow was falling outside Danny and Alex's window. It fell in whirling flurries, coming to rest on rooftops and tree branches and slowly melting on the roads. In a few hours everything would be coated, gleaming silver from the full moon in the winter darkness.

Below, in the cozy warmth of the kitchen, Jazz listened and watched to the television, because, as usual, she'd finished all her homework for the next week and a half ahead of time and had nothing to do. The local news station rattled off the usual: politics, crime, world conflicts, and occasionally a ghost attack or two. World conflicts or politics usually came first, but this time Jazz almost spit out her hot chocolate when she saw, instead, large red words splayed across the screen without a sound: DESTRUCTION OF OUR TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT IMMINENT.

The two boys looked up from their history notes, curious at Jazz's gagging sounds; then the TV screen caught their eyes.

The screen cut to the main TV reporter, his usually immaculate hair unkempt and his face a mask of undisguised worry. "H-hello. This is Lance Thunder for Channel 9 Action News. Um. Yes. That message just now is true. It relates to our top story, w-which is coming right up...let's go to Harriet Chin at Axion Labs for the story."

"Thank you," said the woman, speaking seriously into her microphone against the impressive backdrop of the Axion building. "At 3:53 pm this afternoon, an anonymous threat was sent _worldwide_ to every news station in the world via email, snail mail, and telephone, all at the same time. Not _one _of the envelopes had fingerprints or hair or anything humanly identifiable. The phone calls were sent using an automated system with a generic voice, speaking in a monotone. And every email was sent from an untraceable source. Experts agree this is not a prank, joke, or some geek's way of seeking attention. The threat is very real. The world's technology gurus are working on it as we speak, but they tell us their efforts will ultimately be futile. The security system used by this hacker is beyond anything we have at present."

Harriet paused for a quick breath, still smiling and somehow excited about the whole thing. "I'm sure everyone wants to know what the threat said. Simply put, this person claims that at the end of the month, a virus will be released that can infect anything designed to have an electric current run through it. Once infected, the object will be rendered useless – its circuitry and wiring completely melted. According to the threat, this includes computers, cell phones, TVs, radios, and other communication equipment, cars, batteries, anything you can think of – even the whole power grid itself. If the virus gets into a wall socket, we're done for! We talked to Damon Gray of Axion Labs to hear his thoughts."

The screen cut to Mr. Gray's angry face. Usually composed, he was close to ranting. "This is total bull! How could any virus infect a piece of equipment just by being _close_ to it? This isn't some cold you can catch!"

The screen abruptly cut off. Harriet appeared again, looking uncomfortable. "And that was Damon Gray of Axion Labs. His words are echoed by thousands across the country. What kind of virus can spread by close contact and jump so easily across the wide range of appliances and technology like, well, the common cold? Most dismiss this threat as a hoax, but some disagree. Hours after the threat was released, President Hartman had these words for us."

--

_3...2...1...the tape is rolling, Mr. President!_

"I have reason to believe this threat is real, and that's not just because I believe the experts," President Hartman began. "We are truly dealing with someone dangerous here. This person had the power to send out all the threats at precisely the same time, down to the milliseconds. Right now, there is no technology in the world that could do that. This is something totally new, and our security isn't good enough to keep it out, I'm sorry to say. If this person belongs to an enemy of ours, the news isn't good. Second, there's some simple logic involved. This guy, or perhaps terrorist group, has claimed to have a fantastical virus ready to strike on the 31st. They have already totally destroyed every security system in the world with these email threats; think how much better the virus must be! Also, every hacker wants to be taken seriously. Their threats don't seem plausible, but if they're serious enough to send threats to about everyone, they must be serious, and the threat must be real. They just want the attention to build up and everyone to panic sufficiently before doomsday comes."

Hartman paused, and the clapping began a crescendo. _Wait. Did that make sense? Why were they clapping for bad news? Honesty is the best policy, but I didn't think that applied in politics. You're supposed to make people feel good and make yourself look good...and what I just said was kind of a downer..._ Cameras snapped and flashed. He could only smile politely and wait.

The young, laid-back president was the darling of the media. Life in these United States had been good...until this happened. _And that ghost problem was growing too..._ Hartman's focus, integrity, leadership, good looks, and charming vibe had earned him the presidency and he wasn't about to back down now when his country was in distress. He nodded to the crowd in appreciation and continued. "Rest assured we will have all help working on the problem. Anyone is welcome to submit suggestions about the technology problem, the nature of the virus, or questions to us at the mean time, I propose this: Make hard copies of files, write down your phone numbers and information on real paper, and try living without technology. You might be surprised at how much more time you'll spend with your family, and the things you'll discover about the world outside!"

Hartman grinned a slight grin as the audience laughed and clapped a bit more, though part of the crowd stopped clapping very early. Must be the prospect of not driving, or having internet, or something. He nodded to the crowd and stepped down from the podium shakily, though he hid it well. He hadn't meant to sound so carefree. In truth, he was scared to death. He was not sure that his tech people would be able to figure it out. He actually doubted it. Part of him had a hunch this was no human deed.

Perhaps. Good thing he was prepared for something like this. A new rumor had been started just last year about an Area 53 where the government supposedly experimented on ghosts, like the aliens' Area 51. Americans were so quick to believe that garbage, he reasoned, it was the perfect cover for the real work going on. His secret National Ghost Research Agency employed Guys in White to hunt ghosts and gather information on these apparitions that turned out to be frighteningly real. He hoped – here he crossed his fingers behind his back, where the audience couldn't see – that the NGRA would turn out something helpful by the end of the month. Because if it wasn't a human behind all this...it would have to be a ghost. And that, Hartman mused, was what he really thought was behind it, deep inside. He just didn't want to believe it.

--

"There we have it, President Hartman thinks it's for real!" Lance Thunder commented. Somehow his hair had been combed to its usual perfection in the short break and his expression melted down into a smooth, calm expression, which twisted suddenly. "Yeah right! Let's get serious! There is no way a freaking computer virus could spread like that! Now chemical warfare and gas attacks I could believe, but this is just _stupid_!"

The screen went black for a minute. The studio had cut him off. Danny, Jazz, and Alex sat in silent shock.

"That was dramatic," Jazz said, her teal eyes wide with sudden understanding. "I think I understand it all now."

"Yes, quite. I wonder if your president is in cahoots with the top guys in Britain?" Alex wondered.

The screen returned to show a novice-looking reporter by the name of Candice, trying her best to look professional and collected. "Well, folks, as you can see, some have very strong opinions about this! Before we close, though, just remember: anything is possible." Candice gave the camera an exaggerated wink, then the screen was abruptly black once again.

"Well, that's that," Danny said in a dead tone, staring at the empty screen. "Seriously, what virus spreads through the air? We're done for."

"What ghost were you telling me about again, Danny?" asked Alex as he picked up the remote and turned the TV off.

"What?" Danny said tiredly.

"Danny, I could smack you right now!" Jazz butted in. "Remember your little garage sale? Now that was like a mini-version of this virus. You had infected pieces of gadgets floating around and attacking people...It was Technus! Technus is like this virus, he can get into anything remotely geeky and mess it up! Technus is a ghost! Technus is the virus! The virus is a ghost! Technus...TECHNUS! IT'S TECHNUS!!" Jazz screamed at her brother, pulling frantically on her long red hair. "Do you GET IT?!"

"I get it, I get it! Geez! I thought of Technus at the first mention of electronics, but he's not that smart. It's someone better. Someone smarter and not so egotistical."

Alex jumped up. "Tell me about this Technus. If this ghost is really causing all the problems, and you're this ghost fighter, the world has a chance."

Danny stopped and stared at Alex for a long time. "I'm _so_ not in the mood."

With that, he shrugged him off, walked casually through the kitchen wall, and went upstairs. His door closed audibly.

Alex stared after him. "I still can't get over how he can walk through things like that."

When Danny left it was like the lights had dimmed. Maybe it was just the rapidly darkening sky. Snow still fell, silently and sinisterly. Jazz gazed out the window, worrying, thinking, imagining life without artificial lights and heat and their house surrounded by snow and cold. The lights flickered once, as if foreshadowing the coming plague.

--

_Knock, knock._

"Danny? Danny, it's us," Tucker said on the other side of the door.

"We heard you were being emo," Sam said helpfully.

"Come in," he said gruffly. He sat on his bed with his back against the wall, head bowed, his hair falling in front of his face like a true emo.

"Geez, I didn't know it was this bad," Sam mocked, trying to provoke a response, but when she got none, she continued, "we heard about Technus, Jazz spazzed on us."

Danny looked up only slightly, one blue eye becoming visible from beneath his black bangs. "I am _not_ emo. I don't even really understand what that is. I'm just tired of Jazz being a spazz. I don't think Technus is behind this. This guy is too smart for Technus...I just don't know who it could be...maybe several ghosts..."

"Or maybe Technus has been pretending to be a moron all this time so he could launch his super special awesome surprise attack and catch us off guard," Tucker grinned.

Danny gave him a look.

Sam smiled a little at her friends, but it faded; she was thinking about something more. "Anything we can do?" Looking at Danny sitting aimlessly on his bed, head against the wall, turned toward his window...she missed her old Danny, the one who was always ready to fight, rarely doubting his abilities.

"Um, well, there's always the gameboy thing...if someone could help with the Gameboy," he glanced at Tucker, "if it's still any use, and...hey..._hey..._"

"What? _What?_" Tucker prodded.

Danny's eyes were elsewhere, and he appeared to be thinking furiously. He stood up and began pacing. Tucker stood up to avoid his circuit. He stopped in front of them.

"You guys! I just had the most crazy idea."

"Is it good?"

"You never know till you try it," Danny said, grinning widely. Sam recognized that spark in his eyes and watched as he fairly leapt to his backpack and started going through it like a mole through dirt. Old homework paper and broken pencils littered the floor.

"Whatever your idea is," Sam said, clearly puzzled at the mess, "just be careful, okay?"

"Aha!" Danny held up his old Gameboy Color in triumph. "Pokemon Blue game, check, ghost powers..." he paused and transformed quickly in a blaze of white light, revealing his black and white uniform, snow-white hair, and glowing green eyes, accompanied by a pleasing white aura that brightened the dark room. "...ghost powers, check! I am _so_ ready for this."

He turned it on leisurely and mashed the A button until it loaded, while Tucker and Sam watched in confused silence. "What's he doing?" Tucker whispered aside to Sam.

"Um, playing his Gameboy? In ghost form?" Sam replied uneasily.

"Missingno, you guys, Missingno!" Danny shouted. He dropped the Gameboy on the floor, jumped up, and flew straight into the little electronic box.

There was a cacophony of mutated Pokemon cries, a blinding flash of green light, and the Gameboy lay still and silent on the floor once more.

"No. I don't believe it!" Tucker said. He ran forward and picked up the Gameboy. The screen showed battle mode: Missingno was the defending Pokemon, but where the attacking Pokemon should have been was a pixelly graphic of the back of a famililar-looking white-haired boy. It moved.

Sam's lips parted in astonishment. "No..." she breathed, taking in his enviroment: a very flat, static 2D enviroment. Was it anything like being Mr. Game and Watch?

Danny turned his head so they could see his eyes, rendered green-grey by the limited colors, and gave an exaggerated wink.

Tucker gasped. "He's saying something! What. The. Heck!"

At the bottom of the screen, the message box came to life.

"_Ghost Danny: Hi guys! I'm going to..._

_catch this thing, and then we'll have..._

_a little chat. Fighting it shouldn't be..._

_so hard, right? I mean, it's a ghost..._

_like me! I'm like Technus! I had a..._

_hunch I could get into technology.._

_other than Doomed and it worked._

_I'll see you in a little bit!"_

Pixel Danny Phantom gave them a thumbs up, then turned his back to them as he prepared to fight. The selection arrow moved of its own accord. Tucker was careful not to press anything. "Sam," Tucker said tersely, "Get Jazz and Alex. Man! It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket!"

She made to leave, but stopped. "No. I can't, I have to watch this." Tucker took one look at her tense features and dropped the issue.

Sam nervously twined her fingers together. There was something wrong about the whole thing.

The arrow moved to the option Fight, and Danny's attacks were revealed, just as if he were a Pokemon.

"Substitute, Mega Punch, Ice Beam, Hyperbeam? What _is_ this?! His moveset sucks!" Tucker frowned at the screen.

"I hope he wins," Sam said quietly.

Tucker glanced sideways. "You really care for him." He didn't really mean to poke fun at her little crush. It had become a habit. After all, he hoped Danny would win too and get out of the Gameboy safely. But Sam was so stressed out she exploded in a flurry of female emotional distress.

"So what if I do?" Sam burst out. "What happens if he dies, or faints, like some Pokemon? What happens to him? Does he just disappear into the game forever or does he become some wild Pokemon to capture? Would he be stuck in there as a Nurse Joy? Did he even think about what the consequences could be?"

"I didn't, for one," Tucker said more soberly. "Uhhh...yeah, I hope he wins too."

And they watched with breaths held and fingers crossed.

--

Inside the game, Danny was having a little trouble getting used to existing within technology. His world was strangely 2-D, at the same time, 3-D. Why didn't he have the freedom of Doomed? Maybe because this game was so primitive...limited in options...and he wasn't _master of technology and all things beeping..._

He could see the coast of Cinnabar Island to his right, and pixelly grass stuff to his left. Straight in front of him hovered a dusty, cloudy black form...it resembled a generic inhabitant of the ghost zone in shape, but it didn't act like one. Instead of attacking, it just waited for him to move. Or something. What was it doing? Danny felt rather apprehensive, and very alone. The Missingno's already fuzzy edges seemed to grow and shrink and wave. He spotted a snowman-like shape distance on a flat horizon that seemed to stretch onto white nothingness. He guessed it must be an NPC. He shuddered at the thought; what would it be like to talk to one? Would it be a robot-like creature? Would it attack him? Would it open its mouth and just freeze like that, still as a dead fish on ice at the supermarket?

He wrenched his gaze away and focused on the thing before him, which he was growing frightened of. He vaguely wondered what his own stats were like, and abruptly a box appeared before him, containing these statistics:

LEVEL:74

HP: 342/342

ATTACK: 310

DEFENCE: 249

SPEED: 386

SPECIAL: 562

"Not bad...not bad at all," Danny muttered. He willed it closed and marveled at how his sheer willpower did things in this world that it couldn't in the real world.

He was ready to fight. He had his attacks pre-assigned, it seemed, calling up his attack window and glancing over his moves. "How does that work? I so don't get this..."

Then again, he had stats assigned for him that seemed decent. He was lucky not to get Splash as an attack, if things were randomized here. Perhaps it was just something to do with ghosts and Gameboys, or possibly because he was facing this Missingno, a "ghost" that inhabited all of the Red, Blue, and Yellow Pokemon versions out there. Or maybe he possessed some of the power Technus possessed after all, having being zapped in a portal chock-full of technology. Maybe being around technology a lot does that to you...

Danny stopped thinking; it was making his brain hurt. It was time to attack.

He opened with his Megapunch attack. Given his formidable strength stat, it might kill the thing in one shot, and he didn't want that: he wanted to catch it. Owning this Missingno should give him some control or information about it...

Attacking it was strange. He didn't have so much control after he had given his body the command to attack with Megapunch, he felt like he was both in control of himself and yet not. He was flying at top speed towards Missingno, his fist drawn back. He readied himself for the contact of fist-on-Missingno that never came: instead, due to his forward momentum, he smashed straight into the Cinnabar Gym's wall, which gave him a little tingling he could feel all over his body. It wasn't unpleasant; just rather alarming, as if the whole fabric of the game could unravel with another jolt.

It seemed that he had passed right through the Missingno. Weren't Missingnos normal/bird types? Or was there another type of glitch Tucker had told him about? He couldn't remember, couldn't take the time to remember, it didn't matter now. He got up and faced the thing, which was regrouping its little pixels together into a seething mass. It seemed very angry, judging by its dark, angry eyes and open, fanged mouth, which opened and closed futilely. Perhaps it was a ghost type, he realized. Normal attacks wouldn't work on ghost Pokemon! _Now I'm thinking like a total geek_...

It was Missingno's move. Danny turned to face it and waited, watching it warily for some sign of what it was going to do. Suddenly, it squirted out a stream of bright blue bubbles straight at him...Danny realized it was a Bubble attack, and tried to leap out of the way, but couldn't. His whole body was frozen in place, and he had no choice but to take the attack. The bubbles came like from a firehouse, pounding against his chest. He tried intangibility: it didn't come. He looked down at his legs. His aura was gone here, or perhaps that one-pixel-wide white border around him was supposed to represent that...

The pummeling stopped. Danny watched his hitpoints go down by about 50 points: this monster was strong. He also vaguely wondered where the water had come from when Missingno was obviously a messed up dust bunny. And then he knew. Tucker had told them due to the specific characters he had chosen for his player name, "Danny", he would encounter a type of Missingno that would look like a ghost but have the stats of a Squirtle. But why didn't the Megapunch work?

It was his turn.

He decided on Ice Beam, and felt his hands forming ice almost before he realized it. Raising his palms, he let loose a huge beam of ice. A column of frosty glass shot toward the Missingno, hit, and froze it into something resembling a large Missingno-shaped icecube.

Danny felt himself being released from the attack's spell and straightened up, venturing just a little nearer, as far as he dared. It didn't move. Was its turn over? Was it fainted? A small, flat box appeared above Missingno with the letters FRZ in it, then quickly dissolved away.

Or—maybe it had just merited the status of "FRZ", or "frozen". It wouldn't be able to move for a while.

Danny paused to think, stretching out his pixeled arm and flexing it, watching the pixels jump and rearrange. It was time to throw a pokeball of some sort, he guessed. He called up his inventory with a single thought, and scrolled down just as easily. Two ultra balls, three great balls, seven pokeballs, and ... a glitched amount of master balls. _Right_, he remembered, _encountering Missingno gives me 128 of whatever was in his sixth item slot_...he silently thanked Tucker for that; only Tucker would have remembered to set it up that way. It was good he had let Tucker play most of the game again for him. Luck favored him today. He selected the ball. A round, comforting weight appeared in his right hand. "Sweet!" Danny exclaimed, and listened for an echo of his voice, _anything_ at all – there was nothing. The air had swallowed the sound.

"Let's finish this," he murmured. He lifted the ball up and threw it straight at the Missingno. It bounced once on top of it, then opened. Red light surrounded the frozen Missingno, converting it to pure energy. It flew into the open master ball, which then snapped shut and fell to the ground, motionless.

Danny held his breath as a small musical tone sounded. The ball's center glowed blue and faded. Danny walked forward and picked it up, scratching his head and remembering the days when he watched the Pokemon show on TV obsessively. "And when I let this thing out, it's going to obey me?"

Danny shook his head, kicking at some pixel grass. His foot passed between two of its pixels. The grass appeared unharmed and continued waving side to side in a nonexistent breeze. Danny looked away, almost fearful. He looked back at the ball he held in his hands and smiled.

"I think I'll call you..._PWNED_."


	7. Goodbyes AN

Okay everybody, it's been a long time. A very long time.

I can't write this story anymore. I recently re-read Eagle Strike, an Alex Rider book. You all should have read Eagle Strike by now if you're an AR fan, so I'll just tell you a bit of the end: Sabina moves to California.

Which is funny, because when I wrote the first chapter, I described Sabina as being from California.

After a break I wrote some more chapters, and then I looked back and was like, waaittaminute Sabina's British! I grabbed the nearest book I had on hand, which was Skeleton Key (I checked it out precisely to check Sabina's facts) and found she was from Wimbledon, England. So I changed the first chapter. Big mistake. I was right the first time around.

I never really did have a timeframe as to when this was all happening…I can't keep moving my fic ahead when new books come out, such as Snakehead.

I am such a scatterbrain – bottom line is, everyone, I'm not writing anymore of this. Once I get my facts straight, my setting straight, the whole plot planned out (when I started I had a vague idea of what was going to happen. I thought it would just appear out of the woodwork as I wrote. I was wrong. I have now decided outlines are good) … (I aim to own the AR series now…I only own stormbreaker -.-;) I'll rewrite this.

If anyone remembers Iceheart, I promised to rewrite that one too. At random times I'll think about it (I've never stopped thinking about it…) and put down some ideas. I just have to collect them. Since I keep drawing the characters and scribbling ideas randomly, I've toyed with the idea of making it into a fancomic/doujinshi but don't expect to see that soon _

And my very very first fanfiction, titled Change of Heart, that had a convoluted plot but I think it'd be alright if I found a good way to write it.

So I've got a bunch of projects going on, even though I'm more of a drawing kinda girl. I'm considering studying writing in college though, since I don't seem to be doing any serious portfolio work…

-Missingno

-Iceheart

-COH??? LOL

So if/when I rewrite Missingno, Sabina will be coming up from California, and she'll have a legit reason to be in Michigan. If she even goes at all, I mean, why would she be in Michigan? Surely not to see Alex alone? And there will be reasonable reason for Alex to help YET AGAIN. The story will probably be set…after eagle strike. And before any other stories, just to keep it simple. Or maybe I'll set it after the story after ES…because Alex won't be able to think about anything else besides Yassen and his father, after that excellently dramatic ending in ES…Or maybe I'll set it after Snakehead…note to self, the ending gives reason for Alex to be a bit hopeful, she might actually help alex out here. Stick with him and stuff. She could help convince him, or even … no, could she be used as enemy's bait? She could…she. But alex will realize that he's not alone. A big theme in Missingno is that, he's not alone. He's got danny and his friends and danny's powers _

I'm done…thank you all for reading. It means a lot to me, and having to cancel this is really bad for me. I'd never cancel it if I thought I'd be able to salvage it. I understand if you don't want to stick around and wait, though.

Danny phantom forever!

As for alex…I hope Horowitz stops with Snakehead. It was a good ending and it leaves the reader to the imagination and gives Alex some hope for a normal future and schooling and life and all that…please Horowitz don't give Alex another mission, don't do that to him…(I love alex, I hate seeing him get hurt.)

BOTTOM LINE - rewrite, if any, will be BETTER. I promise.


End file.
